


Twenty-Seven

by InkQuillz



Category: Torchwood
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Bad Wolf, Canon compliant until S2E8 a day in the death, Canon-Typical Violence, Children of Earth Compliant, Doctor Who References, Established Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones, Gen, Hurt Ianto Jones, Ianto is deceptive, Ianto's past comes back to haunt him, Immortal Ianto Jones, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Jack Harkness to the rescue, M/M, Medical Torture, Minor Character Death, Reference to the audio and Big Finish stories, Series 03 Fix-It: Children of Earth (Torchwood), Temporary Character Death, Torchwood One, past trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-25
Updated: 2020-06-21
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:54:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 27,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24379069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InkQuillz/pseuds/InkQuillz
Summary: Jack gets a call that changes everything and now the team has a race against the clock to save one of their own.“Martha Jones, as I live and breathe. Don’t tell me, UNIT are out of their depth and need a group of dashing heroes?” He laughed, leaning back in his chair and swinging his legs up onto the desk.“Not quite Jack… Erm, awkward question really. Is Ianto there? I tried his phone but he’s not picking up.”“Ianto? He’s upstairs. Working the tourist office this afternoon.”“Are you sure?”“Yeah. Quite sure.” Her tone made him doubt himself and something cold and solid settled in his stomach. Uneasiness. He sat upright in the chair again, burrowing the phone between ear and shoulder, he used one hand to flick over to the tourist office’s CCTV and the other to pull up the Torchwood IM log, ready to summon Ianto downstairs.IANTO JONES IS OFFLINE (60+ mins)Updates Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Trigger warning- please read tags and stay safe.
Relationships: Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones
Comments: 164
Kudos: 297





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Hi all, I'm back with another story! This one will be angsty too but should end well. Please be mindful of the fact there will be reference to suicide (of minor characters in past), suicidal thoughts and depression but nothing graphic. If this is something that triggers you, please don't read further.
> 
> I don't have a beta, so have edited as best I can and I hope it is ok but constructive criticism is perfectly fine with me if you want to point out where editing has failed. I should mention here that I have not tagged this story with 'Gwen bashing' but I think my dislike for the character bleeds through a little bit, if you find it offputting and want it tagged as bashing, please let me know.
> 
> This story is already half written and will be updated two/three times a week so you don't need to worry about it being dropped/discontinued.

Jack was always suspicious when things were quiet: no alien visitors flying too close to the atmosphere, no rift alerts, no weevil sightings. It was Cardiff after all, if there wasn’t something happening somewhere in the city, the world was probably on the verge of ending. Again. The quiet before the storm. The others didn’t share his fears, Gwen was none-to-subtly wrangling for the weekend off and Tosh was already taking up her next project: some sort of scanner that could accurately date any object or person as it came through the rift, past or future.

“God, this is boring.” Owen muttered from his desk and tossed a crumpled ball toward the bin. It missed. Jack watched from behind his own desk, his eyes flicking from each of his team members to his own computer. UNIT had sent some reports over for him to check through.

Jack did feel for Owen, times like this were usually passed with eating but his non-functioning digestive system left him with little else to do to distract himself. He’d noticed Ianto clearly had the same feeling as he no longer chastised Owen for making a mess. He’d quietly clean around him, and Jack had noticed on more than one occasion, Ianto had even done his paperwork for him.

“You could try working?” Tosh offered casually, not looking up from her own monitor. Her fingers danced across the keyboard rhythmically.

“What work? The rift hasn’t gone off in five days. I have to say, when Jack offered me a job chasing down alien scum, he downplayed this part immensely. So much for saving the world.” He sighed dramatically, a motion he had to physically force himself to do now that he didn’t have any breath. Jack smirked to himself as Tosh simply continued her work, not dignifying him with a response.

“Don’t you have any more tests you can run on Janet?” Gwen asked but she looked as bored as Owen did.

“Gwen- if I had tests to run on Janet, I’d be down there running them.” He tutted and rolled his eyes and balled up another piece of paper. This one he aimed at her head but she ducked with a cackle of laughter and Jack chuckled quietly to himself.

“Jack? Come on, it _is_ quiet. Can’t we go home? I have a wedding to plan!”

“Great, so I can do even less than nothing at home. Fuck sake, I can’t even wank anymore.”

Jack winced; he could let them go. It wouldn’t take too long to mobilise them if they were needed but there was some niggling doubt that had settled like a weight in his stomach. Something bad was going to happen, he could feel its presence hovering like a grey cloud above them.

He was on the verge of agreeing for them to go; Tosh wouldn’t leave, she had her ‘I’ll be here until this is finished’ face on and he knew Ianto would stay behind if Jack asked him to. His phone rang before he could summon the words, the shrill noise louder in the absence of any other work. A quick gaze down at the screen read ‘MARTHA’ and he raised a brow.

“Maybe not so quiet after all…” He flicked the phone open, his eyes fixed mockingly on Gwen, a smirk still playing across his face as he greeted the caller: “Martha Jones, as I live and breathe. Don’t tell me, UNIT are out of their depth and need a group of dashing heroes?” He laughed, leaning back in his chair and swinging his legs up onto the desk.

Gwen grumbled ‘fuck’ and skirted into his office, arms folded and ready to go. He noticed that even Tosh had stopped typing, clearly readying herself to be told to move.

“Not quite Jack… Erm, awkward question really. Is Ianto there? I tried his phone but he’s not picking up.”

“Ianto?” He inquired, feeling slightly disappointed that this wasn’t looking like a task after all, “he’s upstairs. Working the tourist office this afternoon.” Gwen frowned at him but Jack shook his head in response. He expected her to leave him to it but she remained against the doorframe, arms crossed and wearing her usual curious expression.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. Quite sure.” Her tone made him doubt himself and something cold and solid settled in his stomach. Uneasiness. He sat upright in the chair again, burrowing the phone between ear and shoulder, he used one hand to flick over to the tourist office’s CCTV and the other to pull up the Torchwood IM log, ready to summon Ianto downstairs.

**IANTO JONES IS _OFFLINE_ (60+ mins)**

The CCTV however showed Ianto sat at his desk. The rest of the tourist office was empty but Ianto was sat behind the desk flicking through a magazine. He looked as bored as the rest of them.

“Hold on.” He told her, trying to keep the nervousness from his voice as he instead tapped his Comms unit, activating it. “Ianto? Yan, you there?” Silence greeted him and Ianto in the CCTV image didn’t so much as flinch, Gwen stood straighter and both Owen and Tosh had drifted toward his office, all with matching quizzical expressions. “One of you call the tourist office phone.”

Tosh was on it immediately, they all waited. The CCTV didn’t have sound but the Ianto on screen didn’t acknowledge a ringing phone, instead he reached for a mug of coffee and took a swig and flicked the page over in his magazine. Jack had a fleeting thought of wonder at when had Ianto been down to make coffee last. He hadn’t been down since lunch, two hours ago. “The phone is just ringing out.” Tosh said as she hung up, a pointless remark as they’d all figured that much.

“Jack? What’s going on?” Martha asked in his ear.

“Hold on.” He switched the phone to speaker phone as he stood up. The team trailed behind him and they made their way as a foursome toward the tourist office. He fully expected to find Ianto sat at the desk, staring at them all with bemusement. The phone accidentally off the hook, the internet upstairs had lost signal. Some reasonable explanation that would make his stomach stop flipping. “We’re going up. He’s not answering the phone, but we can see him on CCTV.”

“Keep me on the line.” Martha instructed.

“What’s going on? Why are you looking for Ianto anyway?” The lift rumbled to a stop and the doors seemed to take an age to open. When they finally did, the antsy feeling in his gut sent him running down the corridor and out into the deserted tourist office. His heart stopped even as the rest of the team barrelled in after him. “What the fuck is this? What’s going on?”

“Jack? Jack?” Martha’s voice was becoming more agitated by the moment, but Jack couldn’t find the words to respond. The office was empty: except a pool of blood on the floor in front of the desk and splashes of it over the surface of the desk and the surrounding brochures and leaflets. The office was in complete disarray; papers and leaflets everywhere, a bullet hole in the door and the shattered remains of Ianto’s coffee cup on the floor.

On every available surface, written in blood on the countertop and in thick black marker or paint everywhere else was the number twenty-seven.


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ianto is missing and the team make preparations to find out what's going on and UNIT are already on the investigation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we are, chapter two! I was meant to post this yesterday (I've decided my posting schedule will be Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays) but work was a bit busier than anticipated yesterday so we're a day late. Chapter three will be tomorrow.

“What the _fuck_ is this?” Owen pushed past him and further into the room. Jack’s own legs didn’t want to move. They felt like stone.

“Jack? For Christ sake Jack, speak to me. What’s going on? Is Ianto there?”

Gwen took the phone from him but kept it on speakerphone as she held it to her own mouth, her wide eyes still taking in the sight of the tourist office, “Martha, hi it’s Gwen. No Ianto but it looks like he’s been in a fight. Blood everywhere and someone has written twenty-seven all over the place. What’s going on? Do you know where he is?”

“Damn it.” There was a rustling and then Martha’s voice sounded distant but no less audible: “Jones isn’t there. Looks like they’ve taken him too…. No. I- I’m not sure yet… Yes, will find out... Might be best I get to Cardiff myself?” A gruff voice replied something indiscernible between each break of Martha’s voice and all four of the Torchwood team were now staring at the phone.

“Martha? Martha! Who has Ianto?” Gwen shouted but Martha’s conversation with the unknown voice continued, Jack wanted to wrestle the phone off her but he still felt like stone, how had this happened and none of them realised? When had this happened? How was Ianto still on the CCTV? This was something planned, something diabolical. The panic that had been building since Martha had first asked for Ianto was now full-blown, he could process nothing but the horrible pounding of his own blood in his ears.

“Gwen? Hi. They’re sending a helicopter, they’re bringing you guys to UNIT, you know Ianto better than us, you’ll be able to help better if you’re over here.”

“What the hell is going on? Who has Ianto?”

“We’re not sure. It’ll be easier to explain when you get here. Take photos of the crime scene and send them to me as soon as possible. The helicopter is already on route, it’ll be with you in approximately forty minutes.” Martha hung up before anyone could say another word.

“What the fuck?” Owen growled again, Jack couldn’t work out if he was angry someone had taken Ianto out from under their nose or that Martha Jones was holding out on information. Jack wasn’t sure which angered him most either. He realised they were all looking to him, they wanted answers or at least directions. Owen stumbled toward the door and gave it a tug, it was locked and they all took a moment to question what sort of kidnappers would take the time to lock the door behind them, only to realise the obvious answer: They, whoever they were, wanted to make sure nobody but Torchwood saw the scene of the crime.

“Right.” He coughed, he looked once more around the office and backed into the cool stone corridor. His heart was still racing but he caught his breath, he needed to lead if they had any hope of getting Ianto back.

“Tosh, get downstairs, track Ianto’s phone and car. Someone must have hacked the security cameras and put them on a loop, see if you can track that to a source and see if you can get the real images back up.” Tosh nodded once and ran down the hall. “Gwen, you get photos of the room and fingerprints if you can and then find out what twenty-seven means, Owen get blood samples. I need- we need to know if that’s Ianto’s blood.” If it was… God help them if it was, it was too much blood. “UNIT are not in charge. Ianto is our responsibility.” Gwen and Owen nodded in unison and then chased Tosh down the hall to gather whatever equipment they needed from the hub. Once they were gone, he moved back into the tourist office, his steps slow, like some unconscious part of his brain was trying to stop him seeing the horror again.

He noticed now the smell of coppery blood and stale air. He stifled a horrified sob as he moved carefully around the desk. He tapped the keyboard and the screen popped to life, locked to Ianto. Beside the mouse, almost missed in the mess that surrounded it, was Ianto’s Comms unit: carefully placed. A quick check of the desk draws revealed Ianto’s gun, phone and car keys. So much for the hope that Ianto had escaped injured and taken himself to hospital. Jack’s eyes roamed to the door again, the bullet hole clear as day. If Ianto’s gun was still tucked away in a draw locked to fingerprint matching for the Torchwood team only, who had shot the gun? He had visions of Ianto clambering out from behind the desk and rather than risk opening the entrance to the Hub and endangering the rest of them, he’d tried to escape into the bay. Jack choked on another aggravated sob as he slammed the draw shut and touched his Comms unit. “Tosh- keys and phone still here along with his gun. Don’t waste time tracking them. Work on the CCTV.”

“Right.” Came the simple reply, no emotion, no questions, just a readiness for the next clue to follow. He’d never loved Tosh more in that moment.

Gwen and Owen appeared moments later; Owen bent down to scoop generous amounts of blood from each area with the largest amount of it, labelled them in illegible script and then vanished again.

“What do you think happened?” Gwen asked, she snapped photos from various angles and then fiddled with her phone, presumably sending them to Martha. She took the bigger camera, which was hung around her neck, and took more photos, they’d be more detailed and less pixelated than the ones on her Nokia.

“I don’t know.” He managed through gritted teeth. He vanished into the small back office, there was nothing back there except general office equipment: Two printers, a photocopier/scanner and a Fax machine. There wasn’t even a coffee station. Ianto preferred to make it on the large bistro style machine downstairs. There was a small cupboard with cleaning supplies and a small fridge in one corner that had several bottles of water, a chocolate bar and a can of diet coke in. There was no blood or sign of ransacking in this part, no graffitied twenty-seven. The intruders clearly hadn’t needed to come back here. Jack emerged again into the main office; Gwen was scanning for fingerprints.

“Do you think the rest of us are in danger? I mean… What did this? Was it human do you think?”

Jack looked to her sharply, her words meaningless and he knew he ought to answer but he couldn’t bring himself to repeat that he didn’t know. Gwen continued; her voice unwavering as she rattled off her concerns.

“I should call Rhys maybe? If they’re after all of us… They might try coming after our loved ones. Especially if they can’t get to us. I should tell him to hide himself away… Stay with a friend or something.” She looked to Jack; her fingerprinting forgotten as she scowled at him. “Answer me Jack, I need to know. Is there a chance this is someone Torchwood has pissed off?”

“I don’t think so.” He managed, he surprised even himself and the effort it took to form words made his head hurt and the uncomfortable pounding of blood in his ears increased. “Martha called because she was worried about Ianto specifically. I think whoever or whatever this is, it’s about Ianto.” He looked up at the walls with the numbers printed across it and his stomach twisted uncomfortably. It was obviously important, but he couldn’t put his finger on why. If he knew why, they’d find Ianto.

“But what on earth could Ianto have done to warrant all this?” He could hear in her voice, the unspoken addition to the question that Ianto was nothing more than the office boy, nothing special, who’d want him? Jack stared at her blankly, his stomach turned violently and for a moment he thought he might be sick. When it passed, he gasped and shook his head at her, unwilling to argue because in that moment he wanted nothing more than for the rest of the world to think Ianto was as invisible and unremarkable as Gwen did.

“Jack? I can’t trace the hacker, but I have managed to get back the real CCTV footage.” Tosh’s voice broke the silence and they both startled and ran back toward the main hub. Jack took the stairs, now that he was running, he needed to keep moving and the lift would take too long. He didn’t stop to see if Gwen had followed him.

Jack barrelled into the Hub proper within minutes. Gwen hadn’t followed him; she’d taken the lift and it opened a few minutes after he reached Tosh’s desk.

“Right, this is the live footage. Ianto’s image was on a loop. The real footage starts at one thirty when Ianto goes back upstairs.” She fast forwarded through images of Ianto talking to customers, rearranging leaflets and through the images that were eventually looped: him sat behind the desk reading a magazine. “At two thirty, this happens.” She set the video to play at normal speed and Jack was aware of Gwen coming up behind him, but he didn’t look away from Tosh’s monitor.

Three men entered the office, Ianto looked up in acknowledgement. There was no sound on the feed but they were clearly talking. Ianto, for his part, looked unconcerned but within minutes of the men entering, all three men raise guns and pointed them at Ianto. Jack’s breath hitched as he watched, unblinkingly at the scene. Ianto made to reach for his gun but one of the men waved the gun again, their aggravated faces contorted like their screaming at him and Ianto jumped back, arms raised in surrender, his back to the wall. For a moment, Ianto’s eyes met Jack’s through the camera and he felt his heart plummet. Ianto’s hand twitched toward his ear, probably to activate the Comms but was stopped by another screaming gunman. One of the men walked around the desk then and with his gun pressed to Ianto’s throat, he reached up and pulled the Comm from his ear.

Jack could tell the second the idea popped into Ianto’s head, the flicker of eyes to the camera then back to the gunman and then just like that, Ianto has the gun arm twisted back and the hulking figure in front of him like a shield, similar to the move he’d made in a warehouse several months back when Rhys had been shot. Ianto was more than capable of disarming a lunatic but not three all at once. With some effort, with the man still fighting to hold on, Ianto shot the gun several times. It was clear the door was probably not the only place with a bullet hole in. One of the men went down in the hail of bullets but Ianto was still faced with two attackers, the one he was attempting to disarm freed himself, the gun crashed to the floor and they both lunged for it at the same time. Tosh gasped loudly, her hands over her face, half hiding her eyes as Ianto was kicked repeatedly by one attacker whilst the other successfully reached for the fallen gun. Ianto was on the ground, two guns aimed at him and two pairs of feet kicking him. Jack could feel every blow and winced, willing Ianto to get up again but knowing he wouldn’t. If Ianto had gotten up, he’d still be upstairs. They’d have him now, safe.

Ianto fought for a good ten minutes, the footage was brutal, and Jack was almost relieved when Ianto went still because the beating finally ended. One of the attackers injected Ianto with something whilst the other checked on their fallen comrade. It wasn’t clear whether he was dead or not, both he and Ianto were dragged from the building. Both men re-emerged into the office and begun their graffiti and trashed what was still left standing. Tosh left the CCTV running until Jack appeared in the corner of the frame an hour later.

“Bloody hell.” Owen’s voice made Jack jump. Owen’s lack of vital signs had made him impossible to detect when close. At lunch today, Ianto had joked about getting him a cat collar with a bell so they’d hear him coming. Owen had replied that Ianto would be joining him in the undead if he even attempted it. Lunch seemed a lifetime ago. “That confirms the blood analysis I did; the blood wasn’t all Ianto’s. I’ve got the computer doing a DNA search on the other sample, but it’ll take a while. It’ll send an alert to Tosh’s email, that way we’ll get the response even if we’re still with UNIT.” Jack nodded and looked down at his watch. The helicopter would be with them shortly.

“Who was searching twenty-seven, do we have any idea what that’s about yet?” Jack asked, scrubbing his face with his hands, as though it would scrub the image of Ianto being beaten from his mind. It didn’t work. His hands trembled with the memory of it and he forced them into the pockets of his trousers to hide away the evidence of his own fear.

“I was going to search once I was done with the fingerprinting.” Gwen mumbled and then scurried to her own computer.

“Any fingerprints?” Owen asked and she shook her head.

“None that I could pull.”

Jack’s mobile rang then, and he pulled it from his pocket, the number unrecognisable and he answered it with some vain hope of it being Ianto, only to be disappointed.

“Captain? Hi. ETA two minutes. We’ve got clearance to land outside the Millennium centre.”

“Right, we’ll be ready.” He hung up but the team were already gathering their stuff. Owen helped Tosh gather her laptop whilst Gwen started locking down procedures, her search abandoned. “We could be gone a while, make sure everything is off that needs to be.” As an afterthought and only because the Pterosaur shrieked, he remembered their other responsibilities: “someone make sure Myfanwy and Janet are fed, Ianto will kill us if anything happens to them. The other holding cells are empty?” He asked no one in particular and Owen nodded confirmation, already tearing toward the stairs to the lower levels to feed Janet.

Gwen went toward Myfanwy’s nest, Ianto had set up a pulley system so none of them had to get too close but since Ianto was the only one who did it, the pterosaur gave her what was almost a curious look, perhaps suspicious, her held tilted and beak open as she hissed. Gwen pulled the tab, unleashing a small stream of fish from a tube emerging from the wall into the dinosaur’s feeding area but Myfanwy didn’t move until Gwen reached the main floor again, only then did she swoop down to perch beside her meal.

“Jack, come on, coat, gun, we need to go.” She chastised as Tosh handed her own coat to her. Right- he needed to move. He still felt like stone, the image of Ianto laying unmoving, beaten and broken replayed in his head. “Jack!”

He blinked, both women were staring at him like he’d grown an extra head and only then did he realise he’d still yet to move. He turned sharply toward his office, gathered up his coat and holstered his Webley. When he reached the main floor again, Owen was back and holstering his own gun. They used the invisible lift, the quickest way to the Plass. They could hear the helicopter even before they’d reached surface level and the deafening roar of it matched Jack’s own heart as they finally emerged in front of the water tower, the propellers winds hitting them like a physical force.

“Listen, we find out what UNIT know and then we find Ianto. Don’t take orders from anyone but me, don’t answer questions unless I’ve okayed them and do not trust anyone but me. Got it?”

Gwen looked nervous but Tosh and Owen gave a calm nod. Jack spared a worried glance for Owen’s unhealed broken fingers and wondered how they’d explain they had an undead agent with them and then decided they’d worry about it if it came up.

“Are UNIT dangerous?” Gwen asked just as Jack went to take the first step out of the perception filter and he spared a glance back at her.

“No but they do things strictly by the books and there is a hell of a lot more of them than us. Just keep calm and remember the only thing that matters is we get Ianto back.”

“You _sound_ worried.” Gwen countered.

“If UNIT are involved, this is big.” Owen explained when Jack failed to reply.

“End of the world big?” Gwen asked, her eyes large and wide with concern and Jack could see once again written across her face: how could _Ianto_ be that important to anyone?

Instead of replying, Jack, Owen, and Tosh gave each other weary glances before Jack straightened his back, smirked at his team just to look like he wasn’t concerned and stepped off the platform and into view of the helicopter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So not much information yet. I wanted to ramp up the tension and see a bit into Jack's mindset. He's definitely worried about his boy, also I really hate Gwen, she's so selfish but Owen and Tosh are an absolute delight. I'm hoping to showcase a little more of Ianto's relationships with each of the team members throughout this story and I'm most looking forward to exploring Ianto and Owen.
> 
> Fun fact, I googled where in Cardiff would be the best place for a helicopter to land, I wanted to have them land close to the Hub and had planned for it to be the Plass but worried it might not actually be possible... Low and behold: a military helicopter landed in that exact location in February this year! Win!


	3. Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ianto's lies start to unstick as the team investigate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slightly longer chapter to sink your teeth into as the next update won't be until Monday.

It was still early afternoon but a police cordon had been set up around the Plass so the helicopter could land. It took only a short jog to reach the open helicopter and take their seats.

“Captain Harkness? Pleasure to meet you!” The pilot shouted over the noise; Jack nodded numbly as he hurried to shove the headphones on. He was only faintly aware of the others gathering in beside him, of Owen slamming the door shut and of the pilot initiating take off.

“Do you know what’s going on?” Gwen asked the pilot but he shook his head.

“Just the driver, me.” He said in way of apology and Jack tuned them out.

The flight was quick, just over forty minutes but it felt like a lifetime. Gwen was pressed against his side and leaning over to look out the window. When his leg bounced in agitation, she pressed a hand to his thigh in a way she probably felt was soothing but only further fuelled his need to do something. When they finally landed, they were on the roof of the British UNIT headquarters and Martha was waiting next to a stiff looking General with grey hair and broad shoulders.

It was too loud to talk on the roof: it was windy in London and with the helicopter engine still whirling and his own pounding heartbeat in his ears, he couldn’t make out anything anyone said. Instead he pushed past them both and into the building. He didn’t stop until he was three flights down and Martha shouted for him to halt.

“My office is this way. Sir, I’ll talk them through it.” She addressed the General, who scowled at Jack but nodded.

“Very well but this is a UNIT case, Torchwood are here to help us and if we feel you’re impeding on the investigation, you’ll be removed or imprisoned. Understood?”

“What investigation?” Gwen and Owen asked simultaneously. Tosh was quieter than usual, half hidden behind Owen with her laptop pressed to her chest. She was looking determinedly at anyone other than the General. Jack felt a twinge of pity for her then, she avoided all things UNIT usually and Jack doubted anyone but he knew how much she feared them, he hadn’t thought twice about it until now. Maybe he should have insisted she and Owen stay at the hub out of harm’s way, but he knew them both well enough to know they would never have agreed.

“Understood, Captain?” The general asked, his deep tone almost a growl, ignoring Gwen and Owen. Jack didn’t condescend to answer him either, he simply rolled his eyes toward Martha; silently urging her to take them wherever it was to explain.

“They understand, Sir.” Martha answered, her eyes not leaving Jack’s. Eventually she turned and guided them down a long, white corridor and through a set of doors labelled ‘MEDICAL OFFICERS’. Through various open doors they spotted people in long white coats wondering around labs or hunched over computers. Martha led them through two more corridors before they reached a door with ‘DR MARTHA JONES’ emblazoned on it, she ushered them in and closed the door behind her.

Her office was large and impressive; near one wall, with a floor-to-ceiling view of London, was a huge oak desk with her computer perched on it, a few files scattered across the rest of the surface. Opposite the desk was a flat screen TV that took up almost the whole wall. In the centre of the room a round table with several comfortable chairs perched around it. Every other wall was taken up by bookshelves. This wasn’t the office of a simple medical officer; it was the office of someone in charge. Jack felt an irrational surge of jealousy, the Doctor had never done anything like this for him but then again… He was ‘wrong’. _He’d_ been purposely left behind.

The rest of the team had already gathered around the round table. Tosh had pulled out her laptop and from his position he could see she was logging into the Torchwood mainframe to see if the DNA results were back. Owen and Gwen took their own spots around the table, but Jack continued to stand, his eyes set on Martha Jones. Martha, who was young and impossibly brilliant, not unlike Ianto. Martha, who looked both far too young to be here and far too confident to be anything but in charge of the situation.

“Right. Ok. There is still a lot of unknowns but I’m going to catch you up as quickly as I can.” Martha announced, she’d gathered an armful of files and transferred them to the round table and then went back to the desk to repeat the action. “Yesterday morning five people went missing simultaneously. They were taken from their homes or otherwise safe locations.”

Martha flicked the cinema sized screen on and brought up five photos, their names and ages printed under each image.

“Raul Barros, age thirty-two, victim one was found missing from his room at Nightingale hospital, he has been an inpatient at the hospital since July 2006.

Michelle Sanchez, age forty-one, victim two missing from the Royal Hospital, coma patient since July 2006.

Mark Jameson, age twenty-seven, victim three, missing from his supported accommodation flat.

Rodger Smith, age fifty-three, victim four, missing from his supported accommodation flat, different building.

Siobhan O’Keefe, age twenty-four, victim five, missing from Mill View hospital in Brighton. Inpatient since December 2006.”

Martha stopped the slideshow, pulled up another set of seven images, “then yesterday afternoon and into last night, these seven people were also reported missing from presumed safe locations…” she read off their names, Jack tuned her out, he couldn’t focus past the pounding in his head. When none of the Torchwood team said a word, she sighed and looked to Jack. “Do any of these names mean anything to you?” Jack shook his head; his fist clenching and unclenching in his coat pocket. He didn’t care about these people, he wanted to know what had happened to Ianto.

“Ok, what about these names. She pulled up eight more photos and names, beside their ages was a date labelled ‘date of death’ and all dates were between 2006 and 2007. Lara Bennet, twenty-six. Rajesh Khan, forty-three. Li Chao, thirty. Bradley Pierce, twenty-nine. Philip Crossley, thirty-five. Amira Grant, twenty-five. Neil Gregory, fifty. Jessica Newport, twenty-six.” She finished calling off the names and looked around the team again, Owen shrugged.

“Ianto. Where is Ianto?” Jack growled. Gwen turned her head toward him, the silent urge for him to stay calm written across every feature. It usually would have settled him but there was some force gripping his lungs in a tight grasp and he could feel himself shattering.

“Those eight people are suicide victims. All killed themselves after April 2006. You don’t know what these twenty people had in common?” Jack shook his head gruffly.

“Torchwood. These are all Torchwood One employees.” She pressed the slideshow onward and now twenty-seven names and pictures were spread across the screen, a number beside their name and the eight suicides had little crosses beside their name.

TWENTY-SEVEN:

IANTO JONES. ADMINISTRATION/FIELD AGENT.

All three of his teammates leaned forward, squinting stupidly at the little headshot of Ianto, a much younger looking Ianto than they knew.

“As of this afternoon, all twenty-seven people have been reported as missing. All seemingly vanished into thin air.” Martha explained.

“What are the numbers for, why is he twenty-seven?”

“After the battle of Canary Wharf, UNIT identified and interviewed all twenty-seven survivors and they created a list. The numbers were just a way of ordering the information but there was a presumption among some of the survivors that it was in order of everyone getting out of the building.”

“And Ianto was the last out?” Gwen asked, shifting in her seat.

“Actually, yes. He was seen coming out of the building approximately fifteen minutes after the end of the battle. He then went back in and he wasn’t seen till over a week later when he was caught digging through the ruins. Other than the suicides, the other twelve original victims were taken from safe locations yesterday, all twelve had similar crime scenes and was how we initially tied the cases together.” She pulled up photos of the crime scenes then, they all looked similar to Ianto’s; chaos and numbers. Raul had ONE written across his walls, Siobhan had TEN written across hers.

“So… Someone is picking off Torchwood One survivors?” Owen asked and Martha nodded.

“If these people are Torchwood, why are UNIT investigating? This should be a Torchwood case; these are our people.” Gwen’s back was straight as a rod, her eyes narrowed, gearing herself for a fight, Jack realised.

“Torchwood Three wiped their hands of everything Torchwood One. According to the records, Jack refused to have any part in rehabilitating the survivors or even interviewing them.”

“I wiped my hands of Torchwood One long before Canary Wharf.” Jack growled and finally collapsed into one of the seats at the round table. His heart sunk again. Ianto was out there and they were here because UNIT wanted Jack to know he’d failed.

“Except for Ianto.” Martha murmured and picked up one of the larger files she had brought over to the table. He recognised it as one of the paper personnel files. The large T stamped across it was legible but not the name. He could guess though. “The thing is, even among the twenty-seven survivors, Ianto is a little bit different. Every single one of the other survivors came away with some sort of PTSD, whether they were hospitalised, under heavy psychiatric care or reliant on substance to get through the day… Not one of these people came out unscathed. Ianto, on the other hand, evaded UNIT for over a week, refused to talk when interviewed and then proceeded to get a job in Torchwood Three. He is quite literally, the only functioning member of Torchwood One.”

“Ianto didn’t walk out of there unharmed.” Jack defended, he was angry and scared and had a habit of lashing out, but Martha seemed unphased, even as his own team flinched. “He has nightmares, he’s definitely got some sort of obsessive-compulsive disorder and he…” He stopped himself, the image of Lisa in all her silver armour forcing its way to the front of his mind and of the pills that Ianto had tried to swallow when it had all come out. “He needed help and he came to me for it.”

“I’m aware of that. I checked Owen’s medical files on Ianto whilst we were waiting for you to arrive. Owen was prescribing some extremely high dosage anti-depressants, but he was weaned off and they stopped a few months ago.” Gwen and Tosh eyed Owen suspiciously but Owen nodded an affirmative, not meeting either of their eyes.

“And how has he been functioning without the drugs?”

“You know as well as I do that Doctor/Patient confidentiality means I don’t have to tell you anything.” Owen snapped.

“Unless there is a risk that Ianto would cause harm to himself or others. That’s all I’m asking, is he functioning psychologically?”

“Yes.” Owen answered through gritted teeth, he glanced quickly at Jack then back to Martha, “I wouldn’t have taken him off them if I thought there was a risk to anyone but just to be clear, Ianto is more inclined toward self-harm than harming others… Just in case you’re trying to suggest something here, Dr Jones.”

There was a silence after that, Jack had known about the anti-depressants; when the pills had first been prescribed, Ianto had been forced to take them every day in front of both Owen and Jack. They’d even checked his mouth after to ensure he swallowed them. Jack had never spared a thought for the other survivors. They weren’t his problem. He suddenly felt sick again.

The spacious office suddenly felt stifling small and Jack stood up again and begun pacing the room. He needed action, they needed to be doing something.

“I didn’t mean to imply that Ianto didn’t struggle with what happened at Canary Wharf but it is undeniable that out of twenty-seven people who supposedly survived that battle, Ianto is the only person who has any sort of normal life. He is the exception to what was the rule.”

“Why were none of them retconned? If they’re that traumatised?”

“Some traumas are too embedded for retcon. It was a blood bath at Canary Wharf, I can still smell the burning bodies. You’d have to retcon them to infancy and even then… No guarantee the memories wouldn’t resurface if triggered.” Owen shrugged and Martha nodded her head sadly. Jack could feel Gwen’s eyes on him, her horror almost tangible.

“Anyway, as I was saying… All of the victims had the room they were taken from covered in various numbers that related to a UNIT specific list. The original assumption was that Ianto was the only person who had access to the list and knowledge of the other victim’s living arrangements. He was our only lead; we now have to assume that either this is someone with access to UNIT or one of the victims isn’t really a victim.” The accusation sat heavy in the air and Jack spun around to face her but Gwen got in there first.

“You still think Ianto is involved?” She looked aghast and for the first time since realising Jack had abandoned twenty-six people to horrific fates, she looked to him for back up. She was trying to read him, trying to work out if he and Martha were on the same wavelength.

“Ianto wouldn’t.” Tosh interjected. “And there was blood all over the tourist office. We watched him being attacked on the CCTV, he isn’t involved!”

Jack nodded dumbly, his own argument dead and heavy on his tongue.

“You have CCTV footage of him being taken?” Martha asked and Tosh nodded and pulled it up. It was transferred to the large screen on Martha’s wall and it was worse to watch the second time round. The moment when Ianto looked to the camera, the silent plea for Jack to notice and come to the rescue all the more heart wrenching when Ianto’s figure was almost life-sized.

“I already ran the images through facial recognition, but nothing came up. They never look directly into the camera and they angle themselves in a way that makes it harder to pick up any identifiable features.”

“Play it again.” Martha instructed and Tosh obeyed without question. Jack looked away this time.

Eventually Martha conceded that Ianto had been ambushed but her lips were pursed, her face set blankly. “My cousin worked for Torchwood One. I didn’t know that at the time but by the time I met you all in Cardiff, I knew about it. Her name was Adeola. Adi… I found her files in our deep store, she was one of the senior technicians on the Ghost Shift project.”

Gwen looked puzzled and Owen mumbled “Cybermen. Cybermen in every house.” Jack swallowed the rising bile in his throat again and closed his eyes, but Owen continued, “according to the files we found, they didn’t know what the shift was doing but they were criminally negligent. They knew the figures weren’t ‘ghosts’ but they kept going. If Yvonne Hartman hadn’t died, she would be in UNIT incarceration or killed for treason for her part in it.”

“Whose Yvonne?” Gwen asked. Jack had never encouraged her to look to deeply into Torchwood history, he’d enjoyed her innocence and pure belief that they were the good guys. Besides, she lacked the intellectual curiosity that Ianto and Tosh shared. Jack couldn’t have stopped either of them exploring the archives, he’d watched with mild interest as they’d attempted to research Jack himself, pinpoint him to a time or a real identity. Gwen, like Owen, was happy to learn everything on a need-to-know.

“Yvonne Hartman was leader of Torchwood One… But the point I was trying to make. Adi, was one of the senior staff on that project. Adi and I looked almost identical, she was a few years older than me but there were teachers in our school who couldn’t tell us apart. If you knew Adi, if you met her and then met me… most people thought we were twins.” They all stared back, waiting for whatever dramatic reveal she was going for, Martha looked exasperated. “I spent a lot of time with Ianto whilst I was in Cardiff.” Her eyes flickered to Owen involuntarily, “he didn’t mention Adi once and there was no recognition when he saw me.”

“He might not have known her. Torchwood One had thousands of employees. Ianto was a junior researcher or something, he probably never met her.” Owen shrugged and Martha shook her head, an excited agitation forcing her to her feet as she opened Ianto’s personnel file.

Before she could speak again, Jack’s blood turned to ice and he blinked from Owen to the screen behind him. It occurred to Tosh at the same time and when their eyes met, across the table, he could see the panic written across her delicate features. Martha confirmed his fears within seconds.

“Exactly, I didn’t think anything of it at the time but now… Ianto wasn’t a junior researcher, he was employed as a researcher when he was first hired but he was promoted within months. He was Yvonne Hartman’s assistant and there are several reports from survivors and administrative files we found in the ruins of Canary Wharf that suggested she was possibly grooming him to take over Torchwood. Ianto’s name is on so many files, field agent missions and reports mention him specifically by name or are written and signed by him. Yvonne had Ianto involved in almost everything Torchwood was doing. Including the Ghost Shift. He knew my cousin.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh Ianto, Ianto, Ianto. You gorgeous idiot, why've you been telling so many lies?
> 
> Thank you so much for all the lovely comments, kudos and bookmarks so far. I'm really glad people are enjoying the story so far and hope it continues to be a fun journey through Ianto's past. There is still more to reveal, what exactly did Yvonne want with a kid from Wales? How much more is Ianto keeping from the team and who on earth has taken the twenty-seven and what for? 
> 
> Keep the theories coming, love reading them. There will be a clue in the next chapter and we'll be one step closer to getting our Tea-Boy back.


	4. Chapter Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The investigation of Ianto's T1 personnel file gives the team some unexpected information on Ianto but will it change how they view the investigation?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so from here on in, I am taking a little influence from some of the Big Finish audibles, in this instance it's 'Blind Summit'. I haven't listened to this audio yet but really I'm just stealing parts of it and going off on my own tangent. Hopefully it bears some similarities to the actual storyline of that audio for those who prefer things to be canon but a lot of this is just to fit what I need for my story.

Ianto had lied. He’d lied before they’d been together: He’d lied about Lisa; he’d risked all their lives for her and Jack couldn’t imagine there were any more lies left for Ianto to tell. Somehow it hurt more now that they were intimate. Their weird relationship, such as it was, felt tainted now. Jack collapsed back into his seat. Empty and frozen. He could feel the eyes of Martha and his team on him and he wondered whether the three Torchwood employees were also thinking of Lisa, of everything Ianto had done to win their trust back. Did they feel just as betrayed? One look at their faces told him yes.

 _Fuck_.

“There’s more. In this personnel file, there is more information on Ianto’s background and medical file than you have on your file. I think it’s possible Ianto scrubbed everything he thought would make it harder for him to get a job with you but there is some stuff here I doubt even Ianto is fully aware of.” She pulled out various documents from the file, one of which she handed to Owen who scoured it quickly, eyebrows raised.

“He was involved in experimental drug trials for Torchwood?”

“No, not as such. Yvonne didn’t know the inner workings of it but she knew of a research company, Blind Summit, didn’t seem to know much at all about it but apparently sent Ianto in to find out. Ianto was almost twenty, working in a coffee shop, living with an abusive parent and had no credible prospects. He was basically as vulnerable as you could get and she put him in a dangerous situation and then when she had the information she needed, she retconned him. There is a chance he has no idea what happened to him.”

“What _did_ happen to him?” Gwen asked.

“Excellium apparently. Some sort of super-soldier serum.” Owen read from the report.

Martha nodded confirmation. “There is no information on Excellium or who the individual researchers were, everything was scrubbed except this one note in Ianto’s file written by Yvonne: Ianto Jones, Nineteen. Excellium trial successful, all retconned memories returned, will need to be redone. Only survivor of trial and is showing signs of further improvement in accelerated healing and strength. Should be kept an eye on, other test subjects deteriorated after first twenty-four hours of testing. Jones possible survival due to exposure to rift energy as he was born in Cardiff.”

“They retconned him before they put this shit in him?” Owen asked, flicking through the pages of Ianto’s medical information with a deep frown. “Why?”

“Not sure, it doesn’t say but my theory would be Yvonne knew him before she sent him into the project, she must have done because Ianto wasn’t employed by Torchwood at the time. He had a part-time job in a coffee shop with his dad drinking everything he earned, no connection to Torchwood other than the fact the coffee shop was located in the newly built Canary Wharf area. The only other note about this is that Ianto’s father went mysteriously missing during this time, he never re-emerges but Ianto gets a job within Torchwood, under careful supervision of Yvonne Hartman herself. Apparently, according to one document, she paid his rent on his flat and had it refurbished completely, fumigated, the lot… I mean the flat he was in with his father was a literal shithole, rat invested, peeling wallpaper, hardly any furniture, apparently his father would piss on the carpets when he was too drunk to find a toilet. It sounds horrific.

“Within days of him being inserted into the Excellium project, it was shut down and he had a whole new life. I imagine Yvonne felt pretty guilty about something.” She pulled out a photo from the folder and handed it to Jack. The picture was of Ianto, unconscious on a table. His face and bare torso were bruised and broken; some sort of liquid was being pumped into one of his arms. Jack pushed the photo away with a snarl.

“I still don’t understand. What did this serum do?” Gwen asked, Jack eyed her tiredly.

“Not much as far as I can tell. They say accelerated healing rates but by the look of it not by much, my best guess based on these results is that he’d be able to survive longer than the average person if he had a serious injury but he wouldn’t actively heal without intervention. I saw in your notes he was involved in a car crash last year, went off a cliff at the Brecon Beacons? He should have been in critical condition but somehow survived it with no lasting issues and there are a litany of other records detailing similar instances. However, I don’t see how any of this would make him a super-soldier.”

“Well the tests were only half done by the looks of it. The other thing is… Jack, did you know about this?” Owen passed the medical papers toward Jack. Gwen leaned in to read over his shoulder.

“What is it?” Tosh asked.

“They tested Ianto before and after putting that shit in his system, he is off the charts smart but according to our records, he got through school with barely average grades. According to those tests, our Tea-Boy is a genius.”

“A genius? I knew he was smarter than he let on but genius, really?” Tosh asked, frowning.

“I’d say he’s been hiding more than his job title from us.” Owen looked dangerous, a scowl on his face directed at Jack. Jack swallowed his own anger.

“Photographic memory, eidetic memory, low level psychic and empathic abilities?” Gwen read, her mouth contorting in odd ways as she let the horror of that statement sink in. “You mean to tell me he can read our minds? Did the serum do that?”

“Low level so no, he can’t read minds or thoughts… It’s more like he can sense things about people, probably why he’s such a good PA. In the 51st century it’s fairly common but not for a 21st century human- he was already clever; the serum must have just introduced a new level of intelligence.” Jack frowned and discarded the document with a deep breath. “I don’t know how I wouldn’t have noticed that unless he knows how to shield his thoughts.”

“He can’t. When I had that talisman, I could read his mind. It broke my heart, but I didn’t hear anything about any of this.”

“He was heartbroken and depressed; he wouldn’t have been shielding and he wouldn’t have been thinking about anything other than Canary Wharf.”

Martha had been silently observing them but now she turned back to the screen. A few clicks of the remote changed the twenty-seven images a video screen.

“This is Ianto’s interview after the battle. Do you want to see it?”

Jack looked tiredly up at the screen. The video was quartered and there was a different perspective in each corner but in all of them, Ianto looked so young and so broken.

“Will it help us find Ianto?” Tosh asked quietly, her eyes set on Ianto’s face with the saddest expression. If she felt as betrayed as Owen clearly did, she wasn’t showing it. If anything, she looked more determined.

“Probably not.” Martha answered, her voice equally soft.

“Then I don’t want to see it. I want to know what investigation UNIT is doing and I want to know what I can do to help.” She turned to Jack, imploring him to agree. Thank God for Tosh. Jack thought again.

“Tosh is right. None of this matters. Ianto had his reasons for keeping this from us and if they’ve retconned him like these files are suggesting, there is a chance he has no idea he’s been keeping so much from us. I wouldn’t have hired him if I knew how high up in Torchwood One he was and he knew it, that’s why he changed his records, we all know why he lied to get in and we all know how much he has done since to put it right. He is our team member and our friend; he has put his life on the line for us and he is counting on us to find him. None of this matters, not till we have him back.”

Tosh smiled at him her head bobbing up and down in eager agreement. Owen shared a look with Gwen they too agreed, though Jack noticed the way Gwen’s eyes strayed back to the video. He could read it over her face: she desperately wanted to watch.

“Where do we start?” Gwen asked after a moment and Martha grinned and handed out a new set of files, much smaller in size.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I was going to add it as a bonus scene and then just deleted it... But originally I had a whole scene written out for the UNIT interrogation video but it made more sense for the team to decline to watch it, it wouldn't add to the investigation/story but might have made them feel a little more sorry for Ianto. I may rewrite it and include in a later chapter if the opportunity comes up.
> 
> I don't actually know what happened to Ianto's father. In this story, I think Yvonne vanished him so that Ianto could move on and have a better life. Also, in case anyone was wondering, photographic and Eidetic memories tend to get used interchangebly with one another... They are similar but are different things.
> 
> Stories mentioned if interested:  
> Blind Summit/Excellium is a story line from the Big Finish Audio Blind Summit.  
> The car crash on the Brecon Beacons is a reference to the Torchwood novel Hidden (I have a copy on Audible narrated by Naoko and it's quite good.
> 
> Thank you everyone for the lovely comments I recieved. I will get round to replying to them tonight but it was really nice having them pop up in my emails over the weekend.


	5. Chapter Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gwen has an epiphany that gives the team the breakthrough they need.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy this chapter, a little more digging through everything Ianto did on the day of the battle and the team finally make a connection that could lead to Ianto.

The new files they received were the twenty-seven names, their locations and actions/death since the fall of Torchwood One. Each name came with a profile of the background and job specs, their interactions with each other before and after the battle and medical information. Gwen made an evidence board on one of the walls that didn’t have a bookcase against it, when she ran out of room, she used the screen and the windows. She used bits of string to link people to each other whilst Tosh ran records and pulled family histories from the mainframe.

“Right ok, here is another possible link: number ten on the list, Siobhan O’Keefe was dating the brother of number twenty, Veronika Abbot and they were close, spent a lot of time together outside of work. Veronika was in administration, she answered to Ianto, Siobhan was a Junior Researcher, she joined a month after Ianto, but they worked on a project together with number twenty-one, Elliot Vickers before Ianto was promoted. Elliot and Siobhan were working together during the battle and escaped at the same time, they both mentioned in their interview that they found Veronika on the fifth floor, Veronika’s interview says she got to the fifth floor with Ianto- they got parted when they hid from Cybermen, she claims that she and Ianto were both next in line to be upgraded when the Darleks declared war- the Cybermen were distracted and they escaped. They got lucky, basically, she says: 'Ianto grabbed my arm and we ran, we hid in a cleaning cupboard till it got quiet and then we decided to risk escaping. The top floor was empty when we got out, there were body parts everywhere, we managed to get to a staircase and down to the fifth floor before another group of Cybermen started up the stairs toward us. I ran from the staircase and into the corridor to look for another cupboard, I could hear people screaming and the sound of the converters, I think they had them on every floor. When I looked back, Ianto was gone, I hid in an empty office until Elliot found me.'” Martha read out, flicking through the transcripts for further information and sighing.

“Fourteen, Bradley Pearse, one of the suicides, mentioned Ianto in his interview. Ianto was alone on the sixth floor searching the conversion areas and refused to leave the building. He was probably searching for Lisa.” Jack mumbled, hunched over his own copy of the transcripts.

“Lisa? Is that… Lisa Hallett? Confirmed dead after the battle.” Asked Martha, she was so intently reading through the logs that she didn’t notice the exchanged looks between the Torchwood team and Jack was glad of it. When Ianto had moved to Torchwood Three, Jack had signed a waiver with UNIT exempting Ianto from any further questions from UNIT or other agencies. He’d agreed to keep Ianto out of harm’s way and he’d failed spectacularly. He had never told anyone about Lisa for fear Ianto would have been arrested.

“Yeah, she was converted into a Cyberman, she’ll be in the void with the others.” Jack replied carefully. Owen rolled his eyes but didn’t argue. “Who has Ianto’s transcript? Does it say what he did next?” He wasn’t sure why he wanted to know but the sudden urge to see some evidence that Ianto had fought to live that day gave Jack hope he was still fighting now.

“I have- he said something about running back up the stairs, didn’t realise Abbot was no longer behind him. He hid on the sixth floor and says he went downstairs with Pearse. When he was told that Pearse had contradicted him, he said he didn’t remember. His whole interview alternated between ‘I don’t remember’ and ‘I need to go home’. According to the transcript, he was a mess, looked like he had been living rough and wouldn’t tell anyone exactly where ‘home’ was. They describe him as looking agitated and thought he may have had a mental breakdown, he kept asking if they’d seen Yvonne. They were considering taking him in for psychiatric care without further interview, most of the survivors were booked into mental health hospitals in the direct aftermath.” Owen read quietly for a second and then raised a brow, “this is interesting… Other than asking about Yvonne and a few names I don’t recognise, he asked for you, Jack.”

“Me?”

“Yeah, he was told you weren’t there or involved in any of the investigation but wouldn’t take no for an answer. He claimed he would only talk to you; he’d seen us at the site excavating for usable equipment and weapons, so he knew we were in London.” Owen hummed to himself and a second later: “they called you, but you refused to come in and talk with any of the survivors. After that, Ianto’s interview goes back to ‘I don’t know’. They said he seemed more lucid but had him sent to hospital anyway, he managed to escape the hospital and wasn’t seen again until he popped up in Torchwood Three a month later.”

Jack vaguely remembered getting a call from some UNIT suit that asked him to reconsider helping with interviews. He even remembered being told one of the survivors had asked for him by name, but he hadn’t cared. In fact, his response had been a lot more brutal than a refusal. He was fairly sure he’d offered to shoot the survivors, but he was done talking to and about anyone belonging to Torchwood One. In his defence, he thinks weakly, he had just been given a list of the dead that included Rose Tyler’s name.

“Ok, enough of that. We need to think. We have linked Ianto to almost every one of these names, none of it clears anything up. None of the surviving families of any of the twenty-seven have any idea what Torchwood is and even if they did, there is no indication any of them are involved in any group that could have pulled this off. The men we have on camera were organised and efficient, they hacked our systems and that isn’t easily done, you’d also need more than three people to take down a potentially armed agent in his own base.

They were watching long enough to make sure Ianto was both alone and unarmed before making their move, they couldn’t have done that whilst also taking seven other people at exactly the same time and the other victims from yesterday were all taken from places with security cameras and staff on site and nobody saw a thing. This is a much larger group than just three men.” Tosh’s frustration was evident. They’d been sat in Martha’s office for hours and nothing was any clearer. Outside the window, the sun had set, and the lights twinkled across the city. People were winding down for the night, watching shit TV or readying themselves for bed, none the wiser to what had happened to Ianto Jones. Jack envied their ignorance.

“Alright.” Gwen moved from her makeshift board and came back to the table, propping herself up on the back of one of the chairs, head bowed as she racked her brain for something useful. “We all agree that it isn’t the families. It’s also unlikely to be any of the survivors themselves, we all agree they’re _all_ been taken?” There were affirmatives from the group. “I think we can also rule out that this is about the battle itself. Other than Ianto and possible Veronika, none of the survivors were on the top floor or in any way connected to the Ghost Shift project. A few of the senior researchers were involved in the Sphere project but not on that particular day. Agreed?”

“Agreed.” Came the group response.

“So, what does that leave us with?” Gwen asked, at some point, the screen had been flicked back to the twenty-seven and Gwen was staring at Ianto’s face. God… He looked so young.

“It leaves us with nothing.” Jack groaned, he put his face in his hands. He was exhausted and the thumping in his head had yet to stop. His mixed emotions about Ianto’s betrayal had once again taken a turn for despair. He didn’t care what Ianto had done or why he’d lied, he needed him back.

He thought back to last night. Ianto had made him watch another one of those stupid James Bond movies. He never understood why Ianto liked watching spy films when he really was a secret agent. At least with the sci-fi stuff they could laugh at bad CGI and mock the creative attempts at aliens and spaceships. They’d ordered lasagne from Zizi’s and drank more beer than was probably acceptable on a workday. When they’d eventually stumbled into the bedroom, kissing like teenagers, Ianto had pulled Jack on top of him. They had made love, it felt different to everything else they’d ever done, far more intimate despite the fact it was probably the tamest night they’d had together.

 _“Jack? I think I love you… Is that ok?”_ Ianto whispered when they’d curled up together, their noses touching.

 _“Yeah. That’s ok.”_ He’d whispered back, he wasn’t sure why they were whispering when there was no one to wake up. _“Ianto? I love you too.”_

Ianto had kissed him, he’d smiled even as he slept. Jack usually left during the night; he never needed much sleep, but it had felt wrong to leave after a confession like that. He hadn’t wanted Ianto to read anything into it. So he’d stayed, slept on and off and in the morning, when Ianto woke up in his arms, the young Welshman looked both confused and delighted and Jack had decided it was well worth staying still so long for.

“No, it leaves us with something so obvious I don’t know how we missed it.” Gwen suddenly straightened up. This was where she came into her own, police work and investigations. It stretched her mind in new ways and she saw things the rest of them were too analytical to note. “Martha, you said none of the other living victims have any other life going for them. None of them work?”

“Torchwood Pensions are paying for their care, so they don’t need to work but like I said, Ianto is the only one who’s still a functioning member of society.”

“Exactly. You said earlier, Ianto is the exception to the rule. I think that’s the case here too. We keep trying to find a link or some logic that involves taking nineteen people but there is no logic. None of this makes sense because it’s not real. These people aren’t after a bunch of psychologically traumatised Torchwood employees.” She snatched Martha’s remote up and made Ianto’s picture bigger, waving her hand excitedly, “they’re after the exception to the rule.”

“Then why take the other eighteen people?” Owen asked with a sigh, his scowl still in place but Jack suspected that was more to do with the fact they still didn’t have answers. Owen liked things best when they were black and white, an easy to spot villain. Jack did too.

“Because Ianto is still Torchwood, if they just took Ianto, the focus would be on him and only him but by taking the others they’ve split our focus. We’ve already wasted nine hours.” Gwen sounded triumphant and Jack had to agree, that did make the most sense. Most of the other survivors were so traumatised they weren’t even able to verbalise it. One was in a coma; most were strung out on drugs and booze… What could anyone possibly need them for? Ianto on the other hand… Ianto was brilliant.

“So then, why Ianto?” Tosh asked, her expression as excited as Gwen’s, a new lease of energy now they finally had some logic to apply.

“Excellium.” Said Martha, fumbling for the medical file. “Maybe they’re after Excellium?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks, as always, to all the lovely comments for this story. I am so glad you're all enjoying it. Keep sending those theories!


	6. Chapter Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team don't find out whether Gwen and Martha's theory is correct as their thrust once again into chaos and unsurety. Jack needs to get a grip and Ianto just needs to hold on a little while longer.
> 
> Second random thought, I finished Torchwood: Outbreak this morning. What a fantastic audio drama. Loved the Janto moments. I won't put spoilers here but if anyone has heard the story, I'd love to hear some thoughts about Ianto's curious reaction to the Good Thinking virus because I think it plays in quite nicely to what I have in store for Ianto and Excellium.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Random thought for Friday- I should have come up with inventive chapter titles... Maybe for my next fanfic.

Martha led them back down the maze of medical corridors, it was so late that most were empty now. The corridors were all lit with bright bulbs that made the white of the corridors more clinical than they did in daylight. Jack had to blink excessively until they emerged in the same area they’d arrived in. It was dark here, only a faint light emitting from other rooms but by the time they’d made it to the centre of the hallway, their movement triggered the lights to flicker on. The walls here were grey however and it didn’t feel as glaringly bright as the medical wing did.

They passed through another set of double doors, none of them spoke but he could hear the heavy footfalls of his teammates behind him and the rhythmic clip clop of Martha’s heels on the wooden floor.

“Colonel Mace.” Martha called when they finally came to a stop in some sort of control room filled with computers. A handful of UNIT staff were monitoring CCTV all across the UK, there was a grainy picture of the Roald Dhal Plass on a screen near Martha’s elbow and for a moment, Jack’s attention was drawn to it. It was quiet on screen; the tower was in full view and Jack thought back to a few hours ago when they’d run past that very camera and jumped in a helicopter. For all they knew. Ianto was still in Cardiff. He should never have agreed to come here. All they’d learned was a few of Ianto’s dirty little secrets and quite frankly, Jack was past caring.

The Colonel that Martha was addressing had turned to face them when they entered, his eyes had raked over Jack and the team with little to hide his contempt. He clearly wanted them here and much as Jack did. Usually Jack would have offered his most charming smile, it usually disarmed people enough to get what he wanted but he couldn’t muster up even a shadow of a smile. Let them hate, he thought, I’m here to find Ianto. Nothing else matters.

“Doctor Jones. I heard you’d brought Torchwood in.” His eyes settled again on Jack and then slid sideways to Gwen. His lips pursed and unbidden, a thought appeared in Jack’s head: ‘The sort of face you’d want to punch’, Jack was unsure where the thought had come from, but it made him smile. In his head, the thought came out in Ianto’s voice.

“I did, Sir. They’ll be able to help. In fact, they have footage of Jones being taken from the Hub. I’ve sent it to analysis to see if we can get any information out of it. We’ve also discovered something we think may help the investigation. Other than the fact they were all at Canary Wharf, none of the victims really share anything and don’t appear to have known much about each other before the fall. We think that Jones might actually be the main target and the others are just a distraction.”

Mace nodded his balding head slowly as he considered it. “Perhaps, it might explain why they’re now dropping bodies.”

Jack’s whole body straightened as though he were being pulled at from the ceiling. Bodies? They had bodies and nobody had told them. Martha, to her credit, kept calm as she raised a quizzical brow at the general.

“You mean to say they’ve started killing them?” She asked, her tone perfectly neutral. Jack wondered if UNIT taught their agents how stay calm just for times such as this. His own team could do with a few lessons. Behind him, Owen’s fury was building like a physical force, Tosh had sucked in a deep breath that had drawn Mace’s attention to her and Gwen looked gobsmacked, as though the idea that anyone might have kept that a secret completely baffled her.

“Yes. We’re down to sixteen missing now.” Mace explained, his tone no different than if he were telling them it was a cloudy outside.

“Names of the three victims?” Jack asked, ignoring them all and moved over to another screen, one he had just noticed behind Mace. The screen showed a place on the banks of the Thames.

“Barros, Macintyre and Grainger.” Mace replied and tried to sidestep into view of the screen again but Jack wasn’t easily moved.

“That’s Blackfriars isn’t it? They’ve dropped the bodies in the middle of London?” The tide was out on the river and the bodies were all splayed out on the bank. The two men either side of Chloe Grainger, who was still wearing a hospital gown. She’d been taken from a hospital in Yorkshire after she’d tried and failed to take her own life- maybe these people thought they were doing the survivors a favour? The thought was gone almost as quickly as it had come, nobody could beat Ianto in submission and then justify they were helping him.

“Quite.” Mace agreed, the image showed a small UNIT army of five soldiers gathered around the bodies, three medical officers kneeling beside the dead. They watched in silence for a while. “They’ll bring them in and run some tests but it’s not good news if they’re already killing them. Barros was taken before the other two so there isn’t some order in which they’re taking and then killing. Perhaps if your theory is right, your Ianto Jones won’t be the next body we find.”

Mace spun away from the screen and over to another set of computers were two agents were whispering about whatever they were looking at. Jack was glad, he might actually have punched him.

“Jack. Stay calm, we’re getting Ianto back.” Gwen soothed beside him. He wished they’d all just shut up and let him think.

“Must mean they’re in London, right? Whoever has done this? They’d not drive all this way to dump three bodies?” Tosh mused; he had noticed that she had stepped up view the three bodies once Mace had left.

Jack wasn’t sure they could make any assumptions at this point. All they could do was hope Ianto, wherever he was, was ok.

“Four more bodies, Sir. They found them a mile down from the other three.” Someone called across the room, Mace scurried over but seconds later:

“Another two bodies, Sir. Near London Bridge. Still on the river. They’d have gone with the tide if we hadn’t found them till morning.”

“There is another one too, up near Canary Wharf.”

The room broke off into chaos. Owen went to one set of screens, Tosh another, Gwen and Martha somewhere else. The pounding in Jack’s head had reached its peak and he wasn’t entirely sure he wasn’t dying. Being shot in the head hurt less than this. Nine. There were nine people left to find and they hadn’t even had a whole day to search. Panic was making him dizzy, a gnawing in his stomach made him want to pass out and he was sure there was something squeezing the life out of his lungs. How was he supposed to find Ianto when he had no idea what he was even searching for?

“None of them are Ianto.” Someone said, he vaguely recognised the voice as Gwen, but he couldn’t be sure. He spun on his heel and fled the room. He made it to a bathroom with only seconds to spare before he emptied his stomach of everything he’d eaten that day and probably last night. When the vomiting finally ended, he slumped against the cool floor and rested his head on the metal cubical wall. He tried to think about the last time he’d eaten, Ianto had ordered Chinese. They’d all ate in the conference room until Jack had gotten a call from the Mayor and finished his meal in his office. Before Ianto had gone upstairs, he’d brought Jack a coffee and a small brown bag which contained two donuts from Jack’s favourite bakery.

 _“Don’t tell the others I got you those.”_ Ianto had smiled and when he’d made sure nobody was looking in their direction, he’d grazed his lips over Jack’s ear, _“I got you another treat for later too. If you’re good…”_ And then he’d gone with a wicked laugh and a one last smirk in Jack’s direction. Jack had suspected the treat was because he’d stayed all night or maybe for the ‘I love you’. Either way, in those last few moments they’d been talking, Ianto had been genuinely happy and Jack’s heart had fluttered. They were supposed to be in Cardiff, together, in Ianto’s bed… Why was he in London waiting for someone to tell him they’d pulled Ianto’s body out of the filthy Thames? He threw up again. Narrowly missing the floor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So next chapter begins the investigation one step closer. The team have their work cut out for them with UNIT trying to call the shots but Jack will get his shit together in the next chapter. He does love a good angst but he the team need him.
> 
> Thanks as always for comments and kudos!
> 
> See you all Monday.


	7. Chapter Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Horrified as they are to discover the bodies of the missing, it gives them a clue to start working with.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posting earlier than usual today because my friend and I are doing a Dr Who watch party over zoom like the nerds that we are and I don't want to risk running out of time to post.

“Jack? Are you ok?” Martha called and Jack managed a weak groan from his cubical. He flushed and dragged himself to the sink. He caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror- he looked pale and the dark circles around his eyes did nothing to help his complexion.

“You’ve found him on the river too?” He managed to ask, not sure he wanted to know the answer.

“No. They found four more people though.”

He heard an odd sort of groaning sound and realised it had come from him, he held himself upright only by leaning on the sink. “So, they’ve still got five people.” He washed his mouth out to get rid of the taste and splashed more water over his face. “The chances any of them still alive are slim. For all we know, we haven’t found them because they’re already floating out to sea.”

“So… You’re surrendering then, shall I let Colonel Mace know you lot are heading back to Cardiff? If we find Ianto, I’ll be sure to let him know you were so quick to give up.” Martha glared at him and Jack remembered the girl he’d met at the end of the world who’d pulled the Doctor’s hand from his backpack and been shocked; who had taken Jack’s manipulator with shaking hands and vanished from the Valiant. That girl was so long gone, Jack wondered if Martha would even recognise her now. That was what the Doctor did to them though, changed them, even if he didn’t mean to.

“I’m not leaving without Ianto.” Jack grunted, fixing his eyes on her.

“No, you’re not. Come on then. The first three bodies are pulling into the garage now. I’m going to run preliminary autopsies on them. Let’s see what happened, shall we?” She took his arm and looped hers through it before leading him out. She was so sure of herself and he wished he could feel the same.

Gwen was waiting in the corridor outside, she was leaning against a wall but at their approach, stood up and moved toward them in one fluid motion. “Owen and Tosh are already in Medical. Owen is trying to convince that Colonel Mace bloke to let him help with the autopsy.”

Martha nodded and led them back toward the glaringly white halls of the medical wing but rather than take them back to her office, she led them past a door labelled ‘Post-Mortem’. She guided Jack and Gwen through to an observation deck. A glass divider separated them from the autopsy bay and through it they could see Owen, animatedly shouting in mute at two people in white coats and a pissed off Colonel Mace.

“There is a speaker here, move this dial to hear us and press this button to speak.” She moved the dial and Owen’s voice rang loud and clear.

“-am a fucking Doctor. I’ve been at it longer than any of these idiots. I’m doing the autopsy!”

“Mr Harper-.” Mace began, looking like he’d tried this several times already.

“DOCTOR HARPER. Where the bloody hell is Martha? I’m not talking to you about this. They’re Torchwood employees, I am Torchwood and I answer to Jack not you, so move on.”

“I’ll be down in a second.” Martha replied with a roll at her eyes directed at Jack before Mace could reply. “Sir, it would be a great help actually. I don’t want medical students when time is of the essence and as we don’t have any other qualified medical staff in the building at the moment…”

“Yes, yes. Fine.” Mace growled and stomped from the room. Owen looked triumphant and hurried quickly out of the room as three bodies were brought in. Moments later Mace and Tosh appeared in the observation deck.

“Thank you, Sir.” Martha smiled and vanished through another door. She appeared in the autopsy bay ten minutes later dressed in scrubs. Owen tailed behind her.

“You alright, Tosh?” Gwen asked softly, she’d taken a seat on one of the benches. Tosh was hunched over her laptop and seemed to be tuning all of them out but every once in a while, her eyes would stray to Colonel Mace cautiously. Jack took a calming breath before sitting down beside her, ignoring Gwen’s curious gaze.

“You can go sit in Martha’s office if you’d be more comfortable?” He whispered quietly but Mace was too busy watching the doctors work and didn’t appear interested in the three Torchwood employees behind him. Tosh looked up at him with a weak smile and shook her head.

“Need to be here for Ianto.” Her voice was so low it was hard to hear her, but Jack caught the words and smiled back at her.

He nodded briefly, “we’ll have him back soon.”

It was a weak promise, but it would have to do. In all his own angsting he had forgotten about Toshiko, who was traumatised in her own way. Ianto would be furious to know his friend was suffering on his behalf but he knew equally that Tosh would never leave it up to anyone else to get their man back. He put his hand over her wrist and gave it a squeeze, she turned her arm and slid her hand into his to return the gesture. Gwen watched them with the same frown she’d had when they’d been in Martha’s office looking at a video of a terribly young and broken Ianto Jones in an interrogation room. She was hungry for information and hated being out of the loop.

“What’s going on?” He heard Gwen ask, a little louder than Jack would have liked.

“I suspect Miss Sato is hoping we didn’t recognise her.” Mace answered without looking back, his arrogant voice filling the room without effort. Jack’s head jerked up so quickly a searing pain stabbed the back of his neck, but he glared daggers at the back of the Colonel’s head.

“What?” Gwen asked and Tosh shook her head, her hair; which had already been falling loose of the grip she’d put on this morning, fell from the clip completely, the plastic hit the bench and then the floor behind her with a sharp clatter that made her wince. Jack fished it up from the floor and tucked it into her waiting hand.

“It doesn’t matter now. Ancient history. Leave it.” He added as a warning when Gwen’s mouth opened again to argue.

“If you’re all finished with your dramatics, I think the doctors have something.” Mace said, once again without looking back at them. Jack stood, releasing Tosh immediately. He and Gwen arrived at the glass divide as Mace moved over to the speaker and pressed the button.

“Can you repeat what you said about the blood, Doctor Jones?”

“Certainly, Sir. I said all three of them have the same chemical compound in their systems and some sort of nanotech that appears to be trying to heal them, even after death. It’s why rigor mortis hasn’t set in.”

“So you won’t be able to identify time of death?”

“Probably not.”

“The nanotech… Isn’t bringing them back to life?” Jack called loudly, hoping the speaker could pick him up from his position. It obviously did as Martha shook her head.

“No. It’s odd, the organs are definitely dead and there is no blood flowing but some of the smaller abrasions to the skin are knitting themselves back together but it’s definitely slowing down, I took a scraping on tissue that still hasn’t healed up. I suspect that whatever the tech was supposed to accomplish, it can only work for so long in a dead host.”

“Yeah, I have Macintyre, he isn’t healing at all now. If our theory is correct, he probably died first.”

“I’ve never seen anything like it.” Martha murmured; head bent low over the body.

“I have. Nanogenes are capable of healing the human body and they can heal the dead but they’re centuries off creating those.” Jack mused, it felt like a lifetime ago that he’d stolen those Tular ships and crashed the ambulance on a bomb site. He rubbed his hands over his face. What had the Doctor done with those nanogenes? Had he rounded them up after he’d sent out the patch? If he hadn’t, how long could they have lasted in London? Maybe Torchwood in the Forties had managed to gather some for preservation and research.

“Excellium mentioned accelerated healing, right? Maybe this is another draft of whatever was in that serum?” Gwen asked.

“Whatever it is, if they’re experimenting on all of the people they’ve kidnapped, perhaps this is not about Ianto Jones after all?” Mace offered. “I’ll be in the control room, let me know if there is any more information.” He marched from the room without preamble and Jack groaned.

“Tosh, I want everything you can find on Blind Summit and Excellium. I don’t care if you have to hack into every Government website on the planet, I want whatever information you can find.”

“Of course. I’ll use Martha’s office for this, it’ll be quieter.” She stood and fled the room before he could offer to find someone to escort her. He couldn’t remember how they’d gotten to Martha’s office in the first place, he had no hope of finding it from here, but Tosh clearly had no such concerns.

“They’re dumping bodies along the Thames, there are too many cameras in London and too much traffic along the river for someone not to have seen something. I’m going to go help them track down CCTV of the area and see if we can trace a starting point for the van or truck that moved them.” Gwen announced, in the bay below, Martha and nodded her approval of the suggestion.

“Check tidal times, these bodies definitely weren’t submerged in water so they could only have been along the bank since the tide went out.” Owen called, not looking up from Macintyre’s open chest.

“Got it.” Gwen replied, she fished her phone out from her pocket and crossed the room, already dialling. “I’m going to give Rhys a call. I never told him I was leaving Cardiff.”

Jack looked at his watch absently as she vanished, it was almost two in the morning. Rhys wasn’t slow on the uptake; he’d have already figured out Gwen wasn’t coming home; it seemed a waste of time to call him in the early hours of the morning just to confirm that fact but Jack wasn’t interfering in that.

“So, they’ve used some sort of drugs on these people, where does this leave us in terms of Ianto being the main target? Maybe they did need all of them after all?” Jack asked wearily.

“I’m not sure. I’m really not sure.” Martha sighed.

“I don’t think we can be certain of anything but to be honest, if this is a testing of Excellium or whatever they’re calling it now, it could just be they didn’t want to waste possible test subjects. The reports on the first version of this said Ianto had only partially completed the test and other subjects had died from the effects. I’d wager they need as many bodies as they can get their hands on till the dose is perfected.”

“The implication of that though…” Martha started and then paused, her eyes drifting from Owen to Jack. “The implication of them testing a drug that only Ianto has previously survived, if that’s what they’re doing, they’ll have started tests on Ianto first. Dependent on his reaction then they’d likely have tried the other subjects.”

The silence after her words fell heavy in the air. Unsaid but still ringing in Jack’s ears. Ianto might already be dead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nanogenes... Nanogenes... What was it the Doctor said about Nanogenes again?
> 
> Thanks as always for the wonderful comments, kudos and bookmarking of this story. I'm really glad you're all enjoying it. I'm looking forward to it being complete though and I think we're almost there. I have a half written sequel to my last story ready to be finished and it's all mushy and fluffy and because I just can't let it go even after 11 years, I have a combination of one-shots exploring ways that Ianto doesn't die/comes back from the dead.   
> ♥♥♥♥


	8. Chapter Eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tosh finally finds a location but will they find Ianto?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope this chapter was worth the wait, finally... Answers! We are definitely nearing the end now but whether Ianto makes it to the end remains to be seen........

Dawn stretched its fingers over the horizon and Jack blinked tiredly from the monitor on Martha’s desk to gaze longingly at the outside world. He’d been chasing various vans virtually through London, nothing seemed to lead anywhere, the images scrambled and meaningless.

“Jack- I think… I think I have something.” Tosh looked up from her own computer. She had been hunched over the round table, working so quietly he frequently forgot she was there, only alerted when she shifted in her seat or put her water back on the table.

“What?” His voice was gruff, he wasn’t sure he’d drank anything all night. He reached now for the bottle of water that had been put on the desk by his elbow. He couldn’t remember by who or when it had appeared, but he gulped most of it in one go gratefully.

“A patent request for nanotechnology to be used in military settings. I’ve ran it and it belongs to a company called Blind Prophet- which has registered itself as a Government testing facility.”

“Blind _Prophet_? So likely Blind Summit rebranded without much effort?” He got up and made his way quickly to the table to read over her shoulder.

“Seems likely. I’m doing a bit of reading on the patent request and it could be Excellium. It’s talking about military aids through medical means. They claim to have produced ‘never seen before’ nanotechnology which can be injected into the blood stream pre-injury and can heal fatal wounds but it’s still in testing period.”

So, it was nanogenes then, or some attempt at them. _Shit_.

“Where is the company registered to? A location? Anything?”

“Hold on… I’ll do some digging.” Tosh’s brow was furrowed, her tongue peeking out of the corner of her mouth as she typed frantically. Jack hovered close by. The door opened then and Owen appeared, his expression grim and even for a dead-man who didn’t need sleep, he looked exhausted.

“Autopsies on all fourteen victims complete. All of them have the same weird chemical compounds and traces of nanotech in their systems. It looks like the nanotech is what killed them, like being fried from the inside but the nanotech tried healing them even whilst it was burning them alive… That’s where the compound comes in. It’s not too different from what we saw with Reset, it’s meant to kill them and erase everything in the body and we think the idea was to flush out the nanotechnology but by that point, the nanotech was fusing itself to the victims blood cells, it was working somewhat like a virus. A virus without a vaccine. We injected some rats with the infected blood, it wasn’t pretty.” Owen took a seat in Martha’s chair which Jack had not long vacated and swung his legs up on the desk. “All in all, whoever these people are, they’re abusing all the science and medical ethics they would have sworn to uphold and using human beings as guinea pigs.”

“What are Ianto’s chances if he’s been injected?” Tosh asked, her voice low.

“Not good but then Tea-Boy is apparently special so who knows.” Owen shrugged. “Martha is filling in Colonel Mustard and his team.”

Tosh turned back to her laptop and continued typing, her fingers clattering against the keys that it was a wonder she even knew what she was typing.

“They’ve encrypted everything, but I have an address. It’s an old hospital, disused after the war.” Tosh rambled off the address, but Jack knew it. He’d been there with the Doctor and Rose… The empty child who had infected people across London with rewritten DNA because he couldn’t find his mummy. A hard lump formed in his throat and he coughed to clear it.

“I know the place. We used it during the War. I’m assuming it’s secured?”

“Slightly higher than average security, they have a barrier which is manned by two guards and then the hospital itself is patrolled regularly. I have a rota here should give you an idea of times…”

“We won’t need times; we’re not sneaking in.”

“They’re armed…” Tosh explained but Jack shrugged her off.

“We have UNIT downstairs. Nobody can stop them entering a building in London if there is a threat to worldwide security and use of illegal alien tech and they’ve got a bit more sway than us since they have the numbers.” Jack stormed from the room with a smirk and Owen and Tosh shared a startled look and then followed. They bolted down the corridor until they found the control room. Martha, Gwen and Mace were stood together, no doubt discussing the autopsy find.

“We have a location. They’ve taken over an old war hospital.”

The last thing Jack would openly volunteer to, was working under someone like Mace but it saved time and it was better for Ianto’s odds if they had a whole army and not just the four of them so he let the Colonel make his plans and he had to admit, it was almost fun to do a conference call with the Prime Minister explaining why exactly one of his new pet projects was both illegal and treasonous. The threat of Royal decree and the United Nations at least got the people in Whitehall granting them all sorts of information on their targets.

It wasn’t even nine in the morning and UNIT were loading up trucks of armed soldiers. Mace watched everything from the loading bay platform, calling instructions. For the most part, he seemed to be doing his best to ignore Jack and the rest of the team, not that Jack was overly bothered, the sooner these people were on the move, the sooner he could breath easier.

“Jack- which car are we in?” Owen asked and Jack turned in time to see Owen clattering through the loading door and out into the garage, he was sheathing his gun even as he walked. Tosh were on heels, her laptop back swinging on her shoulder and her gun on display as she navigated herself around the UNIT operatives to stand at Jack’s side.

“Not sure. Colonel- we don’t have transport here, we’ll need to borrow a car.”

Mace turned then, one pale eyebrow raised and the weird pursed-lip expression on his face again. Ianto’s voice in Jack’s head made another snarky remark about punch-able faces and Jack had to swallow a smile. “You can’t expect to be going? As General McIntyre told you yesterday, this is a UNIT case, we appreciate the help, Captain but Torchwood have no role in this operation.”

“Except it’s our colleagues they’re experimenting on and we did all the work in finding them.” Owen snapped and Mace’s eyes landed on him disdainfully.

“Captain, UNIT lets a lot of things slide, given your relationship with the Doctor, but rest assured, were it not for him, you would have been court marshalled years ago. This is no place for Torchwood.”

The trucks started rolling out and Mace turned on his heel and marched back to the door only for it to be blocked by Martha and two men dressed in lab coats.

“Colonel Mace, have the soldiers been deployed?” She craned her neck over his shoulder to see the last of the vehicles vanishing into London. “My medical team are ready, I am bringing Dr Harper and Miss Sato with me, we’ll need as many medically trained people as we can as well as some expertise on the technology since we don’t know what exactly we’re dealing with.” Mace sidestepped to let her through, he looked like he was ready to argue but Martha clearly had more sway with the Colonel than she’d admitted to because he finally nodded his head.

“Jack? What are you doing here? I thought you and Gwen were already en-route.”

It was only then that Jack realised he hadn’t seen Gwen since the control room earlier that day. Mace looked sharply between he and Martha then.

“What?” His face contorted and turned a peculiar shade or puce. “You mean to tell me she has left this building, contradicting direct orders?”

“No, Sir, I gave her orders to leave. Any surviving Torchwood employees in the building are only likely to talk to Torchwood, the General okayed it.” She offered him one of her most professional smiles. “My car is here, Jack, you’ll have to come with us. Bit of a squeeze.” She was climbing into the back of a green jeep which had pulled up in the empty bay and nodded for Jack to get in the driver’s seat. He didn’t need telling twice. He offered a sarcastic salute to Mace before he got in.

“Did you really give Gwen orders to leave?” Jack asked as they pulled out into the bright summer morning. London traffic was dodged with sirens and honking.

“Course not. I saw her on the CCTV and I heard Mace saying you couldn’t go…”

“Won’t you get in trouble?” Tosh asked, she was pressed against Owen’s side and Owen was doing his best to look like he wasn’t uncomfortable.

“Nah.”

Jack looked sideways at her and she grinned at him, he couldn’t help but grin back. “Martha Jones… I want you on my side at the end of the world.”

She laughed and behind him, the two medical staff and Tosh and Owen shared similar looks of confusion. As they wound through the streets, Tosh rounded off facts that weren’t helpful but seemed to keep her calm:

“It closed in nineteen-forty-eight. Most of the hospital was demolished and rebuilt over the last couple of years, it is now a three-storey scientific research laboratory. Only parts of the hospital remaining are some exterior walls on the south side and the basement.”

By the time they reached the hospital, almost unrecognisable from nineteen-forty-one as Tosh had predicted, the rest of the UNIT squadron were already rolling through the gates. At the end of the driveway from the gate to the hospital steps, one solider was stood with a microphone calling out instructions to the soldiers who began to manoeuvre their way around the building to cover all exits.

“Doctor Jones!” Someone shouted as they emerged from the car. Martha made her way over to a stout bearded solider; he’d just emerged from the front doors.

“Sergeant?” She asked once they were close.

“I have staff evacuating the building now, according to them, live testing is taking place in labs on the top floor in the west wing but all the subjects should be in the ward, which is second floor. I have people ready to take your team up.”

“Lead the way.” She instructed.

The lab was cold and gloomy, the marble entrance looked grand, but the starched walls and bright lights made him shiver. They made their way up two flights of curved stairs until a little plaque announced they were on the second floor. The lifts, which the soldiers were using to escort people out, dinged as the doors closed before Jack could see if he recognised anyone.

“Right, take a room each and check vital signs and get identities.” Martha was already part way through the first door when a nearby soldier’s radio crackled loudly and a voice called: “we need medical in the basement immediately.”

Jack’s phone rang at the same time, Gwen’s name flashed on the screen. He answered just as the solider finished talking- before he could sign off the open radio, a loud and familiar voice screamed in agony and Jack’s heart dropped.

“Jack… Oh my god, Jack. I have Ianto, we need Owen now!” Her voice choked but all Jack could hear was Ianto’s pained screams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you as always for all the kudos and comments. They made my day reading them. I hope you've enjoyed this chapter.
> 
> I just want to give a heads up for Friday... I am going to try my best to get the chapter out on time but I've fallen behind in my writing. I have always been two chapters ahead of myself throughout this story but this week I've gotten sick and have only managed to write a few words between really long naps and checking in with work. If I don't post on Friday, I will do absolutely everything I can to get a chapter out over the weekend.


	9. Chapter Nine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They have Ianto but now what?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone, I owe you all a massive apology. I really had hoped to get something done Friday or at the very least the weekend. Unfortunately I got sick last week and just wasn't able to write anything. Luckily it wasn't Covid and I am much better now. I wrote this chapter Sunday, edited it yesterday and hoping that it's ok. It is probably a little rushed but it conveys what I wanted to get across, just without as much time to polish it like other chapters had. The next chapter is almost completed too and I'll be releasing that later tonight, since I do now owe you all two chapters.

They heard him long before they saw him. The basement was a series of rooms and labyrinth corridors but Ianto’s voice carried.

“Jesus Christ.” He heard Owen growl from somewhere behind him. Jack could only agree with the sentiment as they barrelled toward the screams.

The room they finally found him in was grim enough it could have given the Hub a run for it’s money but at least the Hub had some sense of life about it. The basement room smelled stale, the mould and dust seemed ancient, the only thing about the room that felt modern at all was the stark yellow lights from the bare bulbs above them and the incessant beeping of machines. One half of the room was computers and desks filled with Bunsen burners and chemical mixtures, everything faced the middle of the room where a single narrow bed stood, the machines around it connected to the now convulsing form of Ianto Jones, half naked with only a pair of thin blue cotton pyjama trousers, strapped to the bed but his body still managing to arch away from the thin blue mattress. It struck Jack as he looked down at the pale figure of his lover that there was no sign of the beating they'd witnessed on the CCTV. His face looked as it always did, if not a little pallor.

“Fucking hell.” Owen pushed past Jack toward a frantic looking Gwen. Jack rushed to Ianto’s other side, gripping hold of the Welshman’s arm; eyes wide as he tried to take everything in. Ianto continued to scream, a noise that sounded almost primal, the way his body moved and strained against the binds made it look like he was trying to escape his own scream. Gwen was trying to hold him down and making shushing noises like he was an infant.

“You’re okay sweetheart, we’ve got you now, we’ve got you. Ianto? Sweetheart? Come on, love, can you hear me?” She soothed but Ianto seemed oblivious.

“Gwen don’t hold him down, just move back.” Owen was pulling at her, trying to get a closer look at his patient. Martha arrived seconds later, she did a sweep of the room, taking it all in and then moving over to the computers with an air of tranquillity that Jack could have used then.

“Right they’ve got that reset-like drug pumping into his system, I think that’s why he’s in pain… I’m going to remove the drip now.” Owen called; Jack figured he was talking to Martha. “Shit, I can’t get him to stay still. Ianto, mate, come on.” But Ianto continued to buck up from the bed, the movement causing his bare arms to strain, Jack had a sudden fear he was going to tear himself to pieces and moved to unstrap him. “No, leave the straps for now. He’s moving too much we won’t keep him on the bed. I need pain killers, Martha?”

“I’m looking.” She was pulling out various bottles from a shelf near the computers and shaking her head.

“Ianto- hey… Shh. Hey. We’re going to make it stop.” Jack tried to soothe and grabbed one of Ianto’s hands. Almost immediately that hand wrapped around his and squeezed. Ianto sobbed but the screaming stopped, and Owen looked back at the Welshman in surprise but Ianto didn’t look at either of them, Jack wasn’t even sure he knew who was in the room.

“H-h-hu-rtss.” Ianto panted, his voice was croaky, probably torn. “M-m-m-k. St-sst-p…”

“Make it stop?” Owen repeated, nodding. “I’m trying. Listen mate, I need you to try and relax and stay still, I need to get this drip out of your arm. Can you stay still?”

Ianto’s mouth opened but only a whimper came in response. He was still tossing and pulling at the restraints but the movements less frantic. Owen worked quickly and pulled the needle from Ianto’s arm.

“K-kk-ii-ll. K…me. Ca… n’t… hu…rsssssss.” Ianto slurred, his voice still unnatural, his eyes unfocused.

“Not killing you mate. I have a few bones to pick with you about some fibs you’ve been telling. Genius my fucking arse, mate. You’re stuck here with me till I get some answers.” Owen smiled down at Ianto, who only bucked from the bed again, the only sound he made in response was his body slamming against the mattress as he collapsed back. “Martha, have you found anything?”

“I don’t think pain management was on their list of necessities, there is nothing here we can use.” Martha swore and moved from the shelf to her own bag, which she’d planted on the desk. “I’ve got basic pain killers, it’s not likely to make a dent but maybe…” She sighed and came back with an already loaded needle. She injected it into his leg but Ianto didn’t so much as flinch in acknowledgment. He was at least looking at Owen now, the vaguest expression of recognition on his face.

“L-li-ed. N-e—n-d job f- Li-ssss-a.” Ianto replied, the closest he’d come so far to answering them.

“I know mate. I know.” Owen moved away from the bed and inclined his head toward Jack, he had to extract himself from Ianto’s grip, which was surprisingly strong. “His heart rate and blood pressure are all over the place, I can’t get a read on anything going on in his body. We need one of those researchers back in here so they can give us some idea of what we’re dealing with.”

“Yeah… Gwen!”

“I heard. I’m on it.” She vanished as Tosh appeared, her eyes widened at the sight of Ianto and for a second she seemed torn between the small group huddled by the computers and her friend, who was still pulling at his restraints and sobbing in agony. Maybe he was all screamed out because he certainly wasn’t in any less pain.

“I had a talk with one of the ‘doctors’, he’s on his last round of Excellium. They’re testing… They’re experimenting trial versions on him to see how he reacts. Apparently, they had access to Jack’s blood from some old Torchwood research in the fifties, apparently they’re using it as a base for this injection.”

“Maybe they think they can use it to replicate immortality? I mean if this is a super-solider serum, what’s more ‘super’ than someone who won’t die?” Martha offered, “Tosh, do you think you can get into these computers and work out what they were doing?”

“My blood has nothing to do with my immortality. They can’t be using my blood for that…”

From the bed, Ianto cried out and Tosh was at his side, taking his hand in hers, apparently not having heard Marth’s instruction. “It’s not just the blood though, they’re mixing it with Nanogenes and Vortex energy, or so they say, they’re using a combination of research from Blind Summit and something called Lazarus.” She paused only to look at Ianto, who was staring blankly at the ceiling, body jerking and mouth moving wordlessly, all his energy seemed to be put into escaping his own skin. “Nobody has made it this far in the testing, the exposure to the vortex is apparently what’s killing him. Literally wiping out his cells and the nanogenes are repairing them. It’s like what Owen was saying from the other victims, it’s killing him and healing him and not being effective at doing either.” She looked down at Ianto and brushed a hand over his hair. He turned his head slowly to her and blinked up at her.

“Ww-w-an. J-a-ck.” The request came out in a whimpering sob and Jack raced toward him without a second thought.

“I’m here. Ianto. Look at me.” Ianto turned slowly and only then did Jack realise that the bucking movements were much slower now, losing energy couldn’t be a good sign.

“I know the Lazarus project. My sister Tish had a job with him, the Doctor and I went to an event there, he was experimenting with immortality too. He had a machine that could reverse aging… Except it turned him into an actual monster.”

“I remember that… We were keeping tabs of the project.” Owen replied. “Jack made us stop, said someone else had taken charge of it.”

“The Doctor.” Jack answered, his eyes focussed on Ianto but the Welshman seemed to be looking through him. Every limb was shaking, he was covered in sweat and his breath pulled in like the death-rattle Jack knew all too well but Ianto wasn’t screaming and he wasn’t fighting. He glanced back at Owen who seemed to have the same realisation because he and Martha were once again rummaging through paperwork and files. Tosh kissed Ianto’s cheek tenderly, like a big sister and whispered something indiscernible to him, whatever she said at least made his head turn toward her, she smiled down at him again and brushed his hair back but Ianto looked almost confused, like he didn’t recognise her.

“Tosh, we need you on the computers.” He nudged gently, sparing only the briefest of glances. She nodded, kissed Ianto’s forehead and walked away but not before Jack could spot the tears rolling down her cheeks. “Hey, Ianto, look at me. That’s it, there you are.” Jack squatted down beside the bed so his face was level with Ianto’s. “We’re going to get you out of here. Promise.”

“Kkkkkk.i.ll. me.” He sounded exhausted now.

Jack shook his head. “No. Not today.” Ianto cried in response so Jack grabbed his face and forced the younger man to look at him. “Listen to me. You’re not dying in London and you are not dying in anything connected to Yvonne. You understand?” Ianto blinked and Jack took it as a yes.

Ianto was shivering when Gwen returned, she was dragging a woman behind her forcefully and pushed her toward Martha but it was Owen who rounded on her. Jack listened only half-heartedly.

“-you can’t reverse it.” The woman ground out with a roll of her eyes, “he’s dying, that’s why we gave him Erase.” The woman was mid-forties in a smart suit with ridiculous heels and her dark hair in a prim bob. “You’ve removed it, it’ll go quicker for him if you put it back in.”

“You have five seconds to give us something useful or I’m shooting you in the head.” Gwen snapped; Martha blinked in surprise but didn’t counter the threat.

“You can’t shoot me. I have rights and I was only doing my job.”

“You have four seconds to help us save our friend or I will kill you. Got it?”

“And if she doesn’t follow through I will.” Owen growled dangerously; all evidence of the soft tone he’d used on Ianto gone.

“What did you put in him, it’s not Vortex energy, you can’t inject the Vortex.” Jack threw in, he still had Ianto’s hand wrapped around his. The woman rolled her eyes.

“We could try shooting her in the leg, might get her talking when she realises we aren’t messing around?” Owen suggested. “Jack, keep Ianto talking. I don’t want him unconscious.”

“Shooting me isn’t going to change the fact there is nothing we can do. He’s already dead, you’re just waiting for his body to catch up.”

“How did you inject Vortex energy.” Owen growled.

“Don’t be stupid. We didn’t inject him with the Vortex, he’s been exposed to it his whole life growing up under that rift…”

“So, you could have used anyone in Cardiff? You could have used me, why Ianto?” Gwen asked.

The woman shifted uncomfortably, glancing at Jack and Ianto before turning back to Owen. “Well, not everyone had the same reaction. We have tested other Cardiff natives, obviously… Jones is just… I don’t know, he recovers no matter the amount of the serum we give him. Nobody else does.”

“Jack! Keep him awake.” Owen growled.

Jack turned reluctantly from the conversation, eager to know more. Ianto was twitching and shivering now, the hand in Jack’s getting slacker by the minute and his eyes were definitely drooping.

“Ianto. Stay awake.” Ianto’s eyes flickered back to meet Jack’s. “Talk to me, what have they been doing?”

“Jaaa-ck. I-iiii. I. d’d’t me-n to ll-ie. I d-n’t w’n youu to. Ha-te m-m-m-e.” Each word seemed to steal another ounce of energy, his convulsions had slowed to tremors in his limbs, his breath still rattled.

“Never.” Ianto blinked blankly back at him. “I know why you lied and I forgave you a long time ago, right, you remember that, where were we?”

“Fff-er-feer-t.”

“Yeah. Yeah, exactly. At the Ferret and we’ve come a long way since then, haven’t we and I’ve always known how clever you were. Do you remember anything about Excellium? Do you remember Yvonne putting you in for a trial?” Ianto tried to shake his head but the movement was practically non-existent, and his eyes slipped shut. “Hey-hey, answer me. Come on, stay awake. That’s it. What have they told you about Excellium?”

“I- paa-s—d tri-al be-fore. Di’n-t rem-ber ii-t but mem-ries baa-ck now.”

“Yvonne retconned you. It’s all in your paper files, did you ever see them?” Ianto shook his head again but as before, it was the minutest of movements. “That’s ok.” Ianto’s eyes rolled closed again. “Owen… His pulse is weak.” He called over his shoulder. Owen was at his side in an instant, taking Ianto’s wrist in his hands as he glanced at the monitors bleeping around Ianto’s head.

“Ianto, can you open your eyes?” Ianto managed to blink his eyes open but they were dilated and unfocused and closed again not long after. His breathing still a forced gasp for air that made Jack wince. Ianto’s hand had loosened its grip considerably now, his fingers were still bent around Jack’s hand but only his little finger was still touching him. “Jack…” Owen shook his head, glancing again at the monitors. “She said this is how they all went.”

“Then reverse it!” He growled.

“I can’t. They’ve pumped him full of fuck knows what, I don’t think they even know. There is no reverse.”

“He’s not dying here. Do something! Tosh?” Tosh was still at the computers but by the look on her face she hadn’t found anything. She shook her head at him and then turned her face away, the shame of failure or just not able to watch Ianto die, Jack wasn’t sure.

Ianto gasped loudly and Jack turned back to him but Ianto’s head was arched back, his body once again convulsing in agonising movements that strained the straps around his wrists and ankles.

“He’s seizing. Move back.” Owen gave him a somewhat forcible shove out of the way but Ianto still hand his hand, weak as it was, he wasn’t leaving him. It didn’t matter anyway, the seizure lasted a minute at most and then he collapsed back on the bed, a final strangled gasp of air and he fell silent and still. Above him, the monitor’s alarms shrilled incessantly.

“Fuck, no, no, no!” Owen was desperately trying to perform chest compressions whilst Martha rushed over to help. “Martha- I don’t have breath…” She nodded, clearly already on it. Jack stood idle; he was still grasping Ianto’s hand but was otherwise useless. His own heart stopped.

He was only vaguely aware that Gwen was pushing the researcher out of the room, all the while shouting and threatening. Tosh had appeared by Ianto’s feet, her mouth open, her hands clasped in front of her so tightly her knuckles were white, Ianto remained completely still.

“Owen… He’s not…” Martha whispered but Owen was still pushing down so hard on Ianto’s chest that Jack was sure he’d broken several ribs. Owen shook his head. “Owen. Stop. He’s dead.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There we are then. Hope that was worth the wait.....
> 
> Kinda glad I'm doing two chapters at once today or some of you might come calling for my blood.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack needs answers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The promised second chapter because it would be heartless to leave you hanging on something like Ianto dying wouldn't it? :P

“Fuck.” Owen pulled back. “Fucking hell!” the doctor shouted as he backed away from the bed, he kicked out at one of the desks, causing it to skid back some and smash glass vials across the floor.

“Owen, careful!” Martha admonished, “you’ll hurt yourself.” Owen settled her with a glare before cradling his head in his hands. Tosh moved to comfort him as Gwen returned.

Jack lurched forward and pressed his lips to Ianto’s, he poured everything he could into it, the same way he had after Lisa. That time, he’d been newly revived, he could still feel the time vortex flowing through him, it had been excess life he’d given away. He knew it hadn’t worked when he pulled back and Ianto was still unmoving.

“Come on.” He kissed him again, rougher this time, more frantic.

“Jack. Stop.” Martha pressed his shoulder until he pulled away. “He’s gone.”

“He’s not?” She asked tentatively, Martha shook her head in reply, and Gwen moved to Jack, wrapping her arms around his waist. He supposed she was trying to comfort him but he was numb. Was Ianto actually dead? After everything they’d done to find him and just like that he was gone?

“Doctor Jones, they need help upstairs. Three of the remaining victims are alive and in need of medical attention.” One of the UNIT soldiers announced, he took one look at the occupants of the room and bowed his head.

“I’ll be right there.” The soldier nodded and strode away, his retreating footsteps drowned out by the still shrill beeping of the monitors around Ianto’s dead body.

“If they’ve put the same stuff in their bodies, can we even treat them?” It was Tosh. Owen had shooed her away but she hadn’t strayed far, hovering as close to Owen as she could get without him kicking off. Jack noticed her gaze would drift toward Ianto and then she’d force herself to look away almost as soon as she’d set eyes on him.

“We can try. I’m not losing anymore today.” Owen’s voice was hoarse, he looked once more at Ianto before striding toward the door, not even looking to Martha. He was gone from the room before anyone could challenge him. Martha sighed deeply, she had a hand on Ianto’s shoulder and she moved it now to brush a hand softly over his cheek before following after Owen.

“What do we do now?” Gwen asked softly. She was still holding him and Jack shrugged her off now, moving back to Ianto. He’d let Ianto’s hand slip away whilst they’d done CPR so he grabbed it again now.

“They have video footage of all the experiments, a file for each victim. I’ll keep going through them, maybe it’ll help Owen and Martha. Gwen… I could do with some help.” Gwen nodded and she and Tosh returned to the computers across the room. He could feel Gwen’s eyes on him but he ignored her. His attention once again solely on Ianto.

Ianto was still strapped to the bed, Jack belatedly realised, he made quick work of untying him. Wrists first, then ankles. Both were red raw, dried blood and welts deep enough that if he’d lived through this, he would have needed medical attention. He pressed a gentle kiss to one of the freed wrists and clasped the rapidly cooling hand between his own palms.

They stayed like that for ages. Ianto had gone cold by the time he let himself focus on the rest of the room.

“These naming conventions are weird… Where the fuck did they get this from? Sad Dog. Angry Dragon. Gold Koala…” Gwen complained, “how are we supposed to find anything?”

“The names and codenames on the sheet I gave you. Just look for Raul Barros.” Tosh could have done the computer work herself and been twice as fast but he knew she was keeping Gwen occupied for his sake. Jack lowered Ianto’s hand gently, leaned over to kiss his lips as softly as he could and then stood back. He couldn’t do anything for Ianto but he could do something. Ianto wouldn’t want him to play the widow when there was work to do. “We’ll get you out of here soon.” He inhaled and then exhaled sharply and then moved toward the girls.

“Ok, what we have got. Enough to get treatments for the others or at least enough to destroy their research?”

“We’ve got a bunch of codenames written by five-year olds and a load of protected files.” Gwen explained with a shrug and a roll of her eyes.

“What’s with the codenames?” Jack asked.

“Nothing. They’re randomly generated. I’ve explained already… It’s computer generated, just a bunch of randomly assigned adjectives and nouns.” Tosh’s frustration was evident in the tense set of her jaw and the way she punched at the keyboard in front of her, she didn’t spare either of them a look, though she did glance briefly at Ianto, as though she needed the reminder of why she was doing this and why she was angry.

“Oh.” Not remarkably interesting then. “Well, have you cracked Ianto’s file. Can I read it?”

“Yeah, it’s all electronic, give me a sec and I’ll print it out for you.” Tosh began typing something else out and Jack squinted at the little box. Had he read the right?

“Tosh- Ianto’s codename…”

“Bad Wolf. Like I said, randomly ge-”

“No. I got that- it’s just… It’s not random.” He looked over his shoulder at Ianto, he was perfectly still, his face like marble frozen as a twenty-five-year-old. Bad Wolf, _how can it be following us?_ Rose had asked once; her voice had wobbled. The first time Jack had ever heard anyone say Bad Wolf had been in Mayor’s Office in Cardiff in 2005 and yet that had been several lifetime and a hundred loves ago. Her voice was so clear in his head though, it may as well have been yesterday. _I bring life._

It had been her voice the first time he’d woken from death, her words had guided him back to the world of living like glittery gold threads, threads alive with energy. The station had been run by the Bad Wolf corporation, the Doctor had seemed so sure the words were stalking him but Jack had never thought to ask and never had the chance after when he’d woken in Dalek dust and death.

“Bad Wolf means something?” Gwen asked, interested now and no longer searching for information on Raul Barros.

He opened his mouth but before he could summon words to follow, there was a loud gasp for air. Gwen yelped, Tosh jumped, and Jack spun around. Ianto was sat in the middle of the bed facing the door, his mouth open like he was still desperately pulling in air. He fell back against the mattress before any of them had the sense to run toward him.

Gwen fiddled for her phone as the three of them bolted toward him. Ianto was convulsing again, his eyes rolling back but the machines around him were no longer an incessant screech but rapid, individual beeps, he had a heartbeat, he had breath…

“OWEN! Ianto’s alive. We need help down here.”

“Ianto. Ianto!” Tosh and Jack reached to keep him steady on the bed as he fitted. It didn’t stop until moments before Owen fell through the doorway. It was a good job he no longer needed air; he must have sprinted down two floors. Ianto was quiet, eyes closed but his chest rising and falling at a steady pace.

“What happened, how?” He asked, pushing Gwen and Jack out of the way as he reached for Ianto’s wrist, all the whilst reading the bleeping machines, which had returned to a stable beep, beep, beep. “His heart rate’s normal, blood pressure, brain waves… He’s completely fine.” He held a scanner out over Ianto’s body and traced it from head to toe, his lips moving as he took in measurements and readings. “No trace of Erase or Nano genes or anything… No abnormalities, even the ribs I broke are healed.”

“How is that possible?” Martha had reappeared, she was walking toward them with the same expression of shock that Owen was wearing. “He was dead. What did you do?”

“Nothing… We were checking files and he just… Woke up.” Gwen shook her head, “what does this mean? Is he like Jack now?”

“I don’t know. All we know for certain is he’s alive. It could have been a delayed reaction to whatever the serum was… It was meant to heal him.” Owen looked at Martha. “We need to get him out of here, get him somewhere we can monitor him properly.”

“We’re taking him back to Torchwood.” Jack interjected and pushed past Owen, it took some effort and little manoeuvring but managed to scoop Ianto into his arms. The reassuring feeling of Ianto’s breath and the warmth from his body thawed the ice cold feeling of dread which had settled in his stomach the second Martha had pronounced him dead.

“No, sorry Jack. UNIT orders, all survivors are being moved to the medical wing at UNIT headquarters where I can keep an eye on them. Ianto is staying in London. At least until we’ve had a chance to talk to him and monitor him for any side-effects.”

“No. Not happening, he’s Torchwood, our protocol is he stays with us.” Jack pushed past the group and back through the maze of corridors. He wasn’t sure where the sudden strength had come from but he wasn’t putting Ianto down until he had a means of transporting him and his team back to Cardiff.

“Jack!” Martha had caught up with him, he could hear the rest of his team catching up too. “Jack, listen to me. I put my arse on the line for you yesterday to get you here and I did it again this morning to make sure Gwen didn’t get arrested for going on a mission unsanctioned. If you throw that in my face now, I will arrest you. Don’t think that I won’t!” She stood in front of Jack, behind her, two UNIT soldiers were drawing closer, hands on their guns. He was reminded once again that this was Martha Jones, not the girl he’d met at the end of the Universe, but the woman who’d walked across the whole planet alone and saved it. The Master had under-estimated her, Jack knew too much to do the same.

“Fine but Owen stays with him. He’s Torchwood, I want a Torchwood medic… And nobody talks to Ianto when he wakes up until I’ve seen him.”

Martha raised a brow at him, “I can agree to Owen but not to talking. He’s not in trouble, he doesn’t need you to cover for him. All they need to know is what he saw, heard and knows about the serum. Once he’s cleared, you can bring him back to Cardiff.”

Ianto still hadn’t stirred and the dead weight was filling getting to Jack, who nodded his agreement.

“Thank you. There is an ambulance waiting upstairs.” Martha led the way.

Somewhere behind Jack, Tosh asked Owen if the other three survivors were still alive. “Barely.” He replied dryly.

Once Ianto was loaded into the only ambulance in the hospital’s drive, Owen clambered into it, grabbing Jack’s arm before he could disembark. “I’ll take care of him.” He said with a nod and one of his rare reassuring smiles. Jack returned it with a nod of his own.

“You best do.” He jumped down to the ground where Gwen and Tosh stood, Gwen with her arms folded and Tosh clasping at her laptop bag, they watched the ambulance speed off with Ianto, Owen and Martha inside.

“You never did explain… What’s Bad Wolf?” Gwen asked quietly, her brows pitched in the frown she wore when she was struggling to understand something.

“Bad Wolf made me immortal.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun dun dunnnnnn...


	11. Chapter Eleven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ianto is alive and the team want answers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Gwen is a little.... Gwen in this chapter and I did wonder if I made her a bit too whiny, which is why in an earlier chapter I had said I was worried I'd be sailing close to the wind of Gwen bashing... I just needed someone in the team to doubt Ianto a little so that Jack could assess his own feelings on whether or not he feels betrayed by Ianto's lies and honestly, I think Jack knows and understands why Ianto lied.

They set off back to UNIT not long after Ianto’s ambulance. UNIT had stayed behind to clear out the rest of the research and round up the individuals involved for testing. Tosh, who had hacked into the server to gather what information they could, had transferred as much over as she could to Torchwood’s mainframe and they’d all piled into the car they’d arrived in.

“I can’t believe he’s alive.” Gwen mumbled from the passenger seat almost as soon as the door closed behind the three of them. “I mean… He was dead, right? He was definitely dead. How is this even possible?”

“The serum?” Tosh offered. Jack’s jaw was tensed as he focussed on the road ahead. He wasn’t sure he trusted himself to speak, he hadn’t wanted to let Ianto go and now a fear was creeping in that it was all too good to be true. What if Ianto had died again? What if it had been a freak twist of fate but a short lived one? He wouldn’t feel comfortable again until he could see Ianto for himself.

“The serum didn’t work. You saw the results, the other bodies, that serum was piss. They were only trying it on him because he had a better success rate than anyone else, which means there was something already in Ianto’s blood or DNA or something because there is no way growing up under the rift has done that to him or the whole of bloody Cardiff would be immortal.”

“We don’t know that he is immortal.” Tosh answered, an edge of defensiveness in her tone, Jack caught her expression in the rear-view mirror and she looked stony, a scowl aimed at the back of Gwen’s head.

“And what’s Bad Wolf? Is that some sort of serum too?” Gwen asked him, he could feel the pointed glare she was setting him with, could almost hear the accusation before she said it. “Did you give Ianto something?”

He shot her a look, unsure what to say before turning back to the road. “Of course I didn’t. You think I’d put anyone through this?”

“No.” Gwen conceded and then sighed. “No, of course I don’t but then Ianto must have been doing something. He hid a Cyberman in our basement and we had no clue, it is it such a stretch to think he’s got other secrets?”

“Stop it!” Tosh snapped; her dark eyes fixed on the back of Gwen’s head looked deadly. “You haven’t got a clue what you’re talking about.”

Gwen swivelled in her seat, “he’s been lying about everything, even Jack didn’t know what his job was in Torchwood One but we’re all going to pretend it’s completely out of character for him to be keeping things from us? I’m not saying he’s done anything illegal and I’m not saying he asked for any of this to happen but I don’t think we can just rule out that whatever ‘special qualities’ he apparently has, he hasn’t given himself and maybe he didn’t mean for it to be a bad thing, maybe he thought it would give him a better chance with Jack.”

They pulled into the garage and it was just as well, Jack had a feeling Tosh was about to launch herself at Gwen. Instead, she jumped out of the car as soon as it stopped and darted into the building. Gwen watched her go, chewing her lip thoughtfully.

“You think I’m wrong too? I just think maybe there are more questions here that need to be asked.”

Jack turned the engine off and turned toward Gwen, “I never told Ianto about Bad Wolf, I’ve never told anyone. Ianto was retconned, he had no memory about the other Excellium project so he had no idea he was immune to it and I spend ninety percent of my time with him, I’d know if he was experimenting on himself and I’d definitely know if he was hiding something from me now. Ianto isn’t doing this, whatever this is.”

Gwen was silent but still chewing her lip thoughtfully, he and Ianto kept their relationship private. He was well aware that everyone else thought they had the occasional shag and that was that, they didn’t know about date night every Thursday (rift permitting), the wardrobe in Ianto’s bedroom which was half filled with Jack’s things or the extra key Jack had taken to carrying on his keyring.

“Ianto has no need to try and give himself a better chance at a life with me, he has a life with me. I didn’t know about Yvonne but I suspect he kept that secret because it was easier than dredging up the past and it was no longer relevant. I didn’t know how insanely clever he is but I suspected it, he used the water tower as a relay for phone signal when Suzie took you hostage, not even Tosh thought about doing that. Ianto is… He’s brilliant and I think he even doubts has bloody brilliant he is.”

“Jack, I…”

“No. Here’s the thing, I don’t know if I trust UNIT so we go in that building as a team or you go home because if you doubt any of us, now isn’t the time.” He swung the car door open and climbed out. He heard her follow behind him and they rode the lift back toward the medical wing.

Tosh was waiting by a door down from Martha’s office, her arms folded across her chest and her head hung low. She looked exhausted. When she heard them coming she managed a weak smile in Jack’s direction before lowering her head again.

“Ianto?” He asked once close enough.

“I was told to wait. No news yet.”

“I’m sorry guys. I know Ianto didn’t ask for any of this. When this is all over though, we need to get everything out in the open. I’m tired of secrets. Everyone’s secrets. We can’t be a team when we’re strangers.” Gwen said pointedly at Jack. He gave a half nod in response.

It was an hour before Owen emerged from the room. Tosh was sat on the floor, chewing her nails and staring blankly at the wall ahead. Gwen paced the corridor, her hands clapping a rhythm on her legs as she walked, impatient as always. Jack stood against the wall, his mind racing at the implications of Bad Wolf. Had Rose’s powers stretched this far and why? Why Ianto Jones of all people? Rose had never met him, at least not the Rose who’d held the time vortex in her head.

“Jack.” Owen closed the door quietly behind them and once he was sure he had their attention. “Right, well… He’s stable for now but still unconscious. He stopped breathing again on the drive over, but we resuscitated him. He had another seizure not long after we arrived and then another almost immediately after that. We were considering putting him in a medical coma, but he seems to have stabilised himself, hasn’t been a seizure in almost an hour. He’s going to be here at least overnight.”

It was almost twelve in the afternoon according to Jack’s watch. It hadn’t even been twenty-fours since Ianto had been missing yet but it felt longer.

“Is he immortal?” Gwen asked from Jack’s side.

Owen shrugged, “your guess is as good as mine, Cooper. Only one way to really know for sure and I’m not chancing it. For what it’s worth, all his blood tests and scans are coming back normal and his rate of healing doesn’t seem improved any.”

“What do you mean? I thought the serum enhanced healing?” Tosh asked with a frown. She’d stood up when Owen had come out and she was fiddling with the strap of her laptop bag.

“Yeah but I don’t think the serum worked and I don’t think it’s even in his system. Erase was meant to rid his body of the Nano genes, it’s done that. We’ve done a few scratch tests to see if he heals and he doesn’t, nothing beyond normal range anyway.”

“Then how did he come back to life? How did he heal back at the lab? He had cuts all over from those straps and broken ribs, they’re all gone.” Gwen asked and Jack knew she wasn’t likely to let this drop until she had an answer.

Owen shrugged again, “maybe residue healing energy? I don’t know… Not really my areas of expertise.”

“I kissed him. Maybe that was it? I’ve done it before and it worked.” They all shot him puzzled looks and he sighed, “after Lisa threw him across the Hub, he was dead, I brought him back but sharing some of my life force with him. It doesn’t always work but sometimes… I don’t know. Maybe it was a delayed reaction to the kiss.”

“God only knows but it’s as good an explanation as any I can come up with. Like I said, only way of knowing for sure is by killing him and I can’t imagine even this lot would sanction that.”

“What about the other victims from the lab?” Gwen asked as Owen turned back to the hospital room, it caused the doctor to pause and exhale heavily.

“Victim now. Two more died before we got them here, the other, Bridget Mahoney is the only one still alive, but they started pumping everyone full of Erase when UNIT showed up. It’ll be a miracle if she survives the night. Martha is with her; she’ll do her best.”

“What about Ianto? Can we see him?” Tosh asked but Owen shook his head.

“Not yet, they don’t want anyone around who might influence what he says when he wakes up.” Owen gave Jack a pointed look and vanished behind the door.

“Well. Now what? We stand here all night?” Gwen growled, hands on her hips.

“No. Tosh, you get to Martha’s office and work your way through every file you have from that place and destroy it. We don’t want anyone else making any of that serum.” Tosh nodded and wandered slowly down the corridor. When this was all over, he made a mental note, he was giving them all a week off, Rift be damned. “Gwen, you get back to the lab, you go over everything with a fine-tooth comb, any physical evidence is to be destroyed, just don’t get caught doing it.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to interview some researchers.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My posting schedule has been a bit over the place this week, having to play catch up and write these last few chapters after being ill last week has been made more difficult by the fact I'm also playing catch up at work so I've been absolutely shattered this week. That said, the next chapter is almost complete and will be up tomorrow.


	12. Chapter Twelve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack wants answers, Gwen's impatient and Ianto's alive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Extra long chapter today. It was going to be two chapters but they worked better as one.

Mace was an easy man to find, Jack wondered if the man ever went home, though he was a fine one to speak.

“Harkness, I’m glad you got your man back. Doing well is he?” Mace offered what was probably his best attempt at a polite smile but it was forced.

“Too early to say. I want a word with that lot.” He crossed his arms tightly across his chest and jutted his chin in the direction of one of the interrogation rooms. They were on the ground floor of the UNIT building, interrogation had five rooms and only a handful of holding cells. The researchers would be transferred to a UNIT prison, probably later today, but for now they were cramped into holding cells waiting for someone to pull them into interrogation.

“No. You pulled your last favour going to the facility in the first place. You’ve been told, this is a UNIT investigation.”

“And so far Torchwood have done all the leg work. I’m fine with you taking the credit and you’re looking after Ianto, so I’ll even go so far as to thank you for the help but they’ve killed seventeen Torchwood employees in twenty hours, it’ll probably be eighteen before the night is through and nineteen if Ianto doesn’t wake up so I’m not really asking permission.”

Mace smirked at him, “you can watch the interviews but you’re not going in.”

“I have questions I want answered. At least let me talk to one of them.”

“From what I’m told, your man Jones came back from the dead today. If that serum works, it’ll be a game changer for the human race. They’ll want to keep Jones here, run tests, take blood samples… It could take years.”

“You’re threatening me?”

“Am I? Captain… We both have a job to do, yours is in Cardiff and I’m happy for you to take Jones with you, we have the research and we have the researchers, as far as I’m concerned, he’s an innocent victim. Besides that, I don’t want that serum released. Immortality is a dangerous game to be playing with. The human experience is only achieved through life and death, without death humanity would stop evolving. That’s not something I want but I’m sure there are plenty that would love to get their hands on it.”

Mace turned to face the glass divider between the corridor and the interrogation room, Jack suspected it was a one-way window based on the fact nobody in the room seemed to acknowledge an audience. The woman Gwen had pulled into the basement room that Ianto had died in, was being manhandled toward the seat opposite the window, a uniformed soldier appeared moments after to take the second seat.

“My name is Sergeant Micah Jamieson. I am interviewing Doctor Natasha Briggs, arrested today at Blind Prophet.” The soldier, Jamieson, announced to the cameras. “You’re head researcher at ‘Blind Prophet’?”

“Yes.” Briggs replied, she looked bored.

“Can you explain the purpose of your research?”

“Super-solider serum, it was originally started in two-thousand-and-three by Blind Summit. We took over once Torchwood London fell.”

“Why?”

“Why what? Why the serum or why wait for Torchwood to vanish?”

“Both.” Jamieson asked, sitting back in her chair and crossing one leg over the over, her focus on Briggs unwavering, if it distressed the doctor, she didn’t show it.

“The super-solider serum will change the way the British army works, it would ensure no more war heroes are needlessly killed in battle, no more widows and the British army would be indestructible. I would have thought that was obvious, we’d be a world leader. Protect our borders and our interests. It’s what Torchwood _used_ to stand for.” Briggs rolled her eyes, “why we waited till now is simply because Yvonne Hartman was a self-righteous bitch. If she wasn’t in control of something, she got rid of it. She didn’t like the idea of Blind Summit achieving something she couldn’t dream of. Took us a while to build up all the lost data and get access to old samples. We’d have perfected that serum by now if she hadn’t destroyed everything.”

“Why go to the effort of kidnapping nineteen Torchwood employees? From what I gather, they weren’t easy to get hold of and I fail to understand how they were useful. One of them was in a coma.”

“Needed Ianto Jones. Yvonne’s favourite pet.” Briggs shrugged. “Did he really come back to life? I heard some of the soldiers talking. He was dead when I left the room. If he’s alive maybe the serum worked… I’d love to look at some of his tests or see him?”

“Why all nineteen of them if you only needed Ianto Jones?” Jamieson continued, unwavering.

Briggs sighed loudly and rolled her eyes again, “because we have enough research on Jack Harkness to know he’d have found us if we took his boy-toy away, it was agreed we needed to split his focus- although to be honest we thought it would take longer to piece together, he must have been really motivated. What is it with Torchwood leaders and Ianto Jones? I didn’t think he was _that_ good looking to be honest.”

Jack shifted uncomfortably and then felt a flash of annoyance. Ianto was bloody gorgeous. He could feel Mace, equally uncomfortable, shift his weight too.

“Why the other eighteen? You could have split his focus taking a handful of random Cardiff citizens or made it look like alien or rift abductions or a hundred other things. Why take eighteen other Torchwood employees if you only needed one?”

“Make it look like something it wasn’t and payback for Hartman’s treatment, my mentor, Professor Philip Corr, was detained for treason for doing the Excellium trials. He was helping to save the human race and they arrested him for it so honestly, fuck Torchwood. They should all have died at Canary Wharf anyway, they were unleashing Cybermen and Daleks but we were the criminals?”

“Ok. So why did you need Ianto Jones? What was special about him?”

“Not sure. Still not. In the original trials, he wasn’t even Torchwood. I suspect Yvonne had his background hammed up for our benefit; to make him fit the profile of our other candidates, but he wasn’t anything special when he came in. Above average intelligence, though Profess Corr thought he might be faking his results, made himself seem stupid, no idea why but that was about it. He was a sickly-looking kid, looked like he hadn’t had a decent meal in years and he had scars all over his back from a belt. Someone hated him but that was Yvonne all over, finding broken toys to play with.”

“Keep on topic, why was Ianto Jones special. What happened during the trials?”

“I don’t know. Like I said. Nothing was special about him but he just kept pulling through. Every trial we ran, he got stronger, all his scars healed and every new wound inflicted healed almost immediately. If she hadn’t shut it down when she did, he’d have been our first super-solider, he’d have been a fully programmable human who could have healed from any wound, survived any fatal attack… Our very own, real life, Captain America… Captain England? Captain Wales? Neither has a ring to it.”

Briggs obviously thought it was a joke and Jack inhaled, counting down from a hundred to keep his temper in check and tried to picture Ianto’s face if he heard someone referring to him as Captain England, the imagined outrage at least made him smile. Mace’s phone buzzed then and he pulled it from his pocket, read a message and turned to Jack with an air of boredom.

“Your Gwen Cooper was just found incinerating the remaining Excellium.”

“Was she? That’s unlike her- I’ll have a word.”

“No need.” Mace replied, tucking the phone into the breast pocket of his uniform, “she saved us a job. I told you. I don’t want that stuff in the world. I don’t think either of us want any of this making the headlines.”

Jack was willing to consider he’d got Mace wrong, but he wouldn’t be comfortable until he had Ianto out of the building. “You’re not pressing charges on Gwen then?”

“Not today.” Mace replied.

In the interview room, Briggs was smiling at Jamieson, she had her pulled her hair down from the tight bun it was in and was now carding her fingers through it, fluffing the hair up like she was on a date.

“I already answered that, we needed Jones because he survived the first rounds of Excellium back in two-thousand-and-three. He was the prime candidate for the next round of treatments. If we could have used anyone, we would have, we did try the product on random homeless people and volunteers but none of the trials were a success, we needed to try it on Jones to keep altering the dosage until we got it right.”

“I understand that, but you still dosed the other Torchwood survivors, you were trialling it on them as well.”

Briggs shrugged half-heartedly, “That wasn’t my decision but we had the means of testing and the volunteers to test on, it just made sense. What else were we going to do with them all once we had them at the lab? At least this way, their deaths were working toward an ultimate goal. They were Torchwood after all, they signed up to save the ‘British Empire’, when they enrolled in Torchwood. We were giving them the opportunity to continue doing their jobs and be productive members of society. Are you really going to pretend like you give a shit about a bunch of washed up Torchwood employees? Most of those people couldn’t remember their names let alone do anything remotely useful. They were a drain on resources…”

Jack inhaled sharply as Mace groaned lowly and shook his head. “I think I’ve heard enough from her.” He stomped off down the corridor. Jack debated going back upstairs to find Ianto but Owen would call him if he woke up and despite Briggs’ attitude, she might reveal something important.

“I’m fully prepared to admit that what we did wasn’t sanctioned but it was necessary. I am sorry people died for it but we have an opportunity here to do amazing things, you get that, right? Immortality- can you picture that? No more sickness, no more needless death and on top of that, rebuilding the British Empire- isn’t that what UNIT want?”

“No. I can’t imagine anyone wants that.” Jamieson replied, her blank expression blinked for a moment and she looked alarmed.

“Then you’re naïve. I’ve been answering your questions, are you going to tell me whether Ianto Jones is alive or not? You have to let me see him. I need to know if my research worked.”

“I don’t think you understand Ms Briggs, you’re not going to be seeing anyone for a very long time. You understand you’re under arrest?”

“It’s _Doctor_ Briggs and yes, but even if a jury did convict me, you can’t imprison me forever. I have rights and a damned good lawyer.”

“Yes, I’m aware of the lawyer your organisation has on the books. Unfortunately for you, since he is also culpable, you’ll see him on your way to holding.”

For a moment Briggs looked concerned but then her crocodile smile flashed back on and she tossed her head back, “fine, it’ll take me all of two minutes to call a new one. I’ll be taking my one phone call now.”

“ _Ms_ Briggs… When you leave this room, when I have deemed the interview terminated, you’ll be leaving it to make your way to a UNIT prison. That prison is in an unnamed location, you’ll have no visitors, no phone calls, no access to the outside world or in fact any human contact at all. Ms Briggs, please rest assured that UNIT takes murder, treason and public endangerment very seriously. I didn’t get on with Yvonne Hartman myself, I can’t say I approve too much of Captain Harkness’ methods but do believe me when I say, UNIT and Torchwood are on the same side.”

Briggs’ expression changed almost immediately, the smug smile on face vanishing quickly as she leaned forward.

“You can’t do that. I have rights. You can’t just lock someone away forever because you disagree with them! What I did, I did for the good of the British public, for the good of our country! How can you classify that as treason?”

“You kidnapped and tortured an active Torchwood field agent; Torchwood is employed by the Royal Family. Your little experiment was a direct attack against our Sovereign.”

Briggs blanched. Jack grinned, it was cruel perhaps but he was pleased to see she didn’t find the situation so funny now. His phone buzzed and he pulled it out to see Owen’s number flashing on screen.

“Ianto’s awake.” The doctor spoke before Jack could utter a greeting.

“Can I see him?”

“Yeah- he’s finishing up with Martha now.”

He arrived upstairs in time to find Ianto very much awake, Tosh sat on one side of him, smiling and chatting. Martha stood opposite, she had Ianto’s wrist between her fingers and appeared to be taking his pulse. When Jack neared, Martha moved away so Jack could take her place. He first pressed a kiss to Ianto’s forehead, oblivious to the eyes on him as he did so, then he fell into the stool provided, Ianto’s head turned to him immediately and Jack let out a relieved sigh to see his lover smiling at him.

Ianto’s face was pale, sickly pale and he had dark patches around his eyes but he was alive and for that, Jack couldn’t care less about anything else.

“Hey.” He took Ianto’s hand in his and raised it to his lips, he kept it there even as he spoke. “How are you? How are you feeling?”

“Mm, head hurts, everything hurts actually.” He laughed weakly but his fingers squeezed Jack’s hand, Jack kissed his fingers.

“He’s doing well. MRI and everything is back clear, no brain or other organ damage. We’re going to keep him here tonight, we’ve got rooms for you at a hotel nearby, with any luck you’ll be on your way to Cardiff tomorrow afternoon.”

Owen appeared then, he didn’t so much as glance at their joint hands, instead stood behind Tosh, who looked exhausted but happy. Jack realised now that she was holding Ianto’s other hand, her free hand was drawing patterns up and down Ianto’s arm. He’d never noticed before how close they were and felt stupid for not realising it.

“I don’t need sleep- what with my condition and all. Guess you’re stuck with me tea-boy.” Ianto groaned in response but he was still looking in Jack’s direction.

“I’ll stay too, I don’t really sleep either.”

“Liar.” Ianto returned with a small smile, his eyes already drooping despite how much sleep he’d had already. Jack scowled at him. “You should get some rest, from what I hear you’ve all been up for hours. Really. I’m fine.” He turned his head to look at Tosh who finally nodded weakly and stood.

“Alright. I’ll see you tomorrow then.” She kissed his cheek and even exhausted and sick, Ianto managed to blush a little. She looked expectantly at Jack who resolutely shook his head.

“I’m staying.”

“Jack- I’ve been sick twice already, I don’t want you to sit there all night watching me throw up.”

“He’s right, it isn’t pretty.” Owen smirked and Tosh hit him.

“Don’t care. Owen, you take Tosh back to the hotel. Get Gwen to meet you there- she’s still at the lab with UNIT” he added in way of explanation to the confused looks from the four people around him, “I’ll stay here.” He gave Ianto’s hand another firm squeeze just to reaffirm his choice and Ianto sighed reluctantly.

“I’m heading off too.” Martha announced, “I have my colleagues are fully briefed and Jack, you can give me a call if anything changes. Ianto, I’m going to give you a last dose of pain medication and a sedative to help you sleep.”

Ianto nodded numbly, he was already fighting to keep himself awake so Jack couldn’t fathom the need for a sedative. As the other piled out of the hospital room, he shifted Ianto in the bed and made room for himself. Ianto grunted sleepily but wrapped himself around Jack’s body once he’d settled himself. Much to Ianto’s embarrassment, he woke a few times during the night to throw up into the little bucket by the side of the bed which Jack guessed had been placed for that reason. One time, Ianto had managed to get it over himself and Jack and had been so mortified he’d refused to look at either Jack, or the two nurses who’d got them and the bed cleaned up.

“It’s ok. Come on, lay back down and try to sleep. You’re ok.” He whispered, pressing kisses to Ianto’s temple, cheek and shoulder until Ianto finally drifted back off to sleep.

By the morning, Martha had agreed that Ianto was fit enough for travel. His test results all clear of any abnormalities. The only evidence of what had happened to him was the pale face, dark eyes and constant headache. There would be no helicopter ride back but someone would be driving them back. Ianto slept most of the ride, curled against Jack’s side. When he did wake, it was usually to vomit from the swaying of the car. The others kept their distance in the small confines of the UNIT truck and Jack did his best to shield him from view.

It took a week for Ianto to start feeling ‘well’ again, by which point Jack’s selfishly harboured hopes that Ianto was now immortal had faded away. On the ninth day of Ianto’s bed rest; which he could barely keep food down and spent most hours sleeping fitfully curled around Jack, Jack woke to Ianto kissing him.

“Feeling better?” Ianto responded by climbing on top of him and kissing him again.

“Before things go a bit to far…” He was cut off by Ianto grinding his arse against Jack’s rapidly growing interest. “Gods- Owen will be here soon. Morning check ups, remember?”

“Mm, remember… Don’t need it though. Been ages.” He almost whined and ground their lower halves together again, Jack groaned in response, his hands finding the waistband of Ianto’s cotton pyjama bottoms just as the front door opened and Owen’s voice filled the hallway.

“Wake up you two, it’s practically the afternoon. You best be fully dressed as well.” Owen was making his way to the bedroom and Ianto pouted as he rolled off Jack, who quickly excused himself for a shower. He noticed, on his way, that it wasn’t even nine am yet.

When Jack emerged into the bedroom, clean and presentable, Ianto was sat up in the bed watching Owen make notes. “All good?” He asked. At his voice, Ianto jumped up and scampered into the bathroom with a ridiculous grin on his face.

“Yeah, all good. I’ve said he can come back into work.”

“Really? So soon?” Jack tried to hide his disappointment, but Owen caught it with a smirk.

“Really, and he needs to keep it light for now, he still has a mild headache so until we’re certain there aren’t any residual side effects, no field work, no heavy lifting and no shagging in the archives.” Owen stood up then, tucked the paper he was making notes on into his pocket and headed toward the front door. “I’ll let the others know you’re on the way in. Tosh wanted us all to have a team breakfast to welcome you back so… don’t eat or I’ll never hear the end of it.” Jack chuckled and went about getting dressed. Ianto appeared not long after and dressed in one of his usual suits.

“Jack…” Ianto started then paused, a small frown on his face as he finished fiddling with his tie. “I’m sorry for everything I put you through. I haven’t said it yet, but I am sorry. And I’m grateful too, for you finding me and for looking after me.” He pointed in the general direction of the bed, which Jack had done a poor attempt of making whilst Ianto had been showering.

“You have nothing to apologise for or to thank me for. I’m just glad you’re ok. I don’t know what I’d do without you.” Ianto smiled brightly at him and Jack crossed the room to kiss him. “I mean it, we don’t need to talk about any of it, not unless you want to. It’s not like I’ve never kept things from you.”

“I know. I do want to tell you though. Not yet but… I remember things I didn’t before and there are other stuff I could tell you now that you know the other bits.” He flushed again and Jack smiled reassuringly at him, “Jack, I just wanted to say- before things get crazy and busy again. I love you.”

Jack closed the small space between them to kiss him again. He didn’t say it back, he didn’t need to. Ianto knew how he felt.

“Ready to go back to work?” He whispered when they parted, resting his head against Ianto’s forehead.

“Yeah. I’m ready.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter to go after this.


	13. Epilogue - 18 months later

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The end is where we start from.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is guys, the last chapter. The neat bow that ties it all together.

_18 months later_

Jack woke quietly wishing he hadn’t woken at all. When he finally sat up, it was to Gwen sat with her back to him and a still figure laying in front of her. _Oh_.

“I really thought he’d come back.” Gwen whispered, she was stroking Ianto’s hair, tears flowing down her face freely, “what are we supposed to do now?”

Jack had held her but he hadn’t known what to say, his own grief had filled him up, like he was downing in cement again. He wasn’t sure he’d ever be ok again.

Gwen sobbed when they finally had to leave him an hour later, led out by an armed solider. In the corridor, as Gwen called Rhys to tearfully explain, Jack sat in a state of shock. Ianto was gone. Again. He hated London. He thought back to all those months ago when Jack had promised Ianto he wouldn’t die in London and here they were, this city was haunted, and it had stolen his love from him yet again.

He was glad of the reprieve when Gwen was finally taken away. He’d quietly hoped that Ianto was like him now, immortal. A small little flame inside him had kept alive the idea that the serum had worked, that Bad Wolf had found it’s way to Ianto and kept him here especially for Jack. Owen had believed it too, though he’d never said it beyond a few snarky jokes.

It was grief, he reasoned, which had led him to kill Steven, though in truth he knew that this was the reason that Lucia had severed contact with him, why she’d taken Melissa- Alice, in the first place. He’d have given anything to have died in Steven’s place.

When Alice left him, turning her back on him like he was no more than a stranger, Jack decided the only thing left to do was leave England for good. He couldn’t go back to Cardiff, not without Ianto.

The sun was blinding when he stepped out from the morgue and into the empty carpark. Empty except a few cars. He contemplated stealing one but the prospect of fresh air made his churning stomach and thumping head feel a little better. It’d be easier to find a pub whilst walking. He wanted to find out how possible it was to literally down his sorrows.

“Captain Harkness!” A voice called once he was halfway across the carpark, he turned his head enough to see Agent Johnson leaning against a car, her dark eyes set on him in a way that would have unnerved him if he wasn’t already completely dead inside. He ignored her and continued across the carpark. “I have something for you.”

She called to him, he was almost across the carpark when the door of the car opened, and he turned his head in half curiosity. She tugged at the arm of someone who was sat in the back seat. His breath caught and he stopped as the figure came into view.

Ianto Jones blinked in the sudden light and looked around himself frantically, clearly confused. When he caught sight of Jack, the obvious relief in Ianto’s eyes sent Jack tumbling to his knees. His own relief, grief, anger, shock all too much to bear.

“JACK!” Ianto ran to him but Jack couldn’t stand, his legs wouldn’t work. He was well aware he was crying but he couldn’t stop the tears falling. Ianto collided with him, wrapping firm arms around him and kissing the top of his head. “It’s ok. It’s going to be ok.”

“I- you don’t know what I did.” He managed to sob; his face buried in Ianto’s chest. He couldn’t believe he was here, and he hated himself for the joy he felt to have Ianto alive again. His daughter was inside the building behind him, her whole life ruined and he had a second- no, a third chance with Ianto.

“I do know. She told me. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” Ianto was still kissing him, his arms holding him tighter, hands rubbing his back. “I’m so, so, sorry.” Jack could only continue to sob and cling to the man he loved. “Come on, I’m taking you home. Can you get up?” Jack managed to get to his feet but Ianto half carried him back toward the car that Johnson was still leaning against. She handed Ianto the keys without a word passed between them.

“I took the liberty of taking the tracker out but they’ll know where you’re going. It’s obvious. Doubt anyone will follow now though.” She eyed Jack with dark eyes. He couldn’t bring himself to look back at her though. Ianto just nodded calmly and helped Jack into the passenger seat. They didn’t talk until they were passing through Swindon. Jack thought he might have been asleep but he was awake now, groggy but awake.

“Yan?”

“Yeah?”

“You were dead.” It was all he could manage to vocalise but Ianto reached across and took his hand and gave it a good squeeze.

“I woke up in that place, scared the soldiers to death, they kept me detained in some barracks until Johnson came and collected me, had no idea where you were. She told them she was taking me to a secure prison. I tried to get away but she’s freakishly strong…” Jack half chuckled at that and then immediately froze; he couldn’t laugh when he’d murdered his own grandson. Ianto clearly sensed Jack’s distress, “she told me what happened on the way over but she didn’t tell me she was taking me to you, I thought for sure I was being taken somewhere to be experimented on again.” Ianto released his hand to change the gear but then immediately took his hand again.

“When you woke up, what was it like?” Jack asked wearily.

“Same as what you said, like being hauled over broken glass. It _hurt_.”

“You were really dead then?”

Ianto nodded, “When I woke up, I remembered those Excellium trials, it felt the same way then, being dragged back to life… Then I remembered, the first time it happened. I heard a voice- I thought I was going mad, I think it’s why I forgot about it.”

Jack didn’t need to ask what the voice said, _I am the Bad Wolf, I bring life_ , “Did you hear the voice today?”

“No. Just the first time but there was something, like my brain was registering it even if it wasn’t there. Do you know what Bad Wolf is then?”

“She was my friend; she took the time vortex into her head and it nearly killed her… But not before she brought me back. She reached through time to lead herself to that point, I think maybe she reached through time to make sure I’d never be alone, too. I think she gave me you.”

Ianto’s eyes left the road to stare at him in bewilderment before he looked away again, clearly processing that. Jack felt guilty, for all his hope that Ianto would live, that he’d never lose him again, he wouldn’t ever have wished immortality on him.

“I hope that’s what happened. I never want to leave you.” Ianto told the road ahead and Jack had to look away for fear his heart would burst if he looked even a second longer at Ianto’s earnest face.

They travelled in silence again. The final stretch of their journey taking them through Newport and then the familiar streets of Cardiff until they reached Ianto’s flat. The door had been kicked in when Johnson and her soldiers were searching for him, his flat trashed and almost everything he owned broken.

“Bastards.” He breathed but led Jack through to the bedroom, where at least the bed was still mostly intact. “Lay down, for a bit. You’re in shock and I think you should sleep.”

“Stay with me?” Jack asked weakly as he sank into the familiar sheets, Ianto’s scent surrounded him and he let himself melt into it.

“Always.” Ianto breathed and then frowned. “I’ll try for always anyway.” He smiled, leaned in to kiss him softly on the forehead, in the way Jack always did to him, then laid down beside him, stroking Jack’s cheek and hair until Jack drifted off.

Tomorrow he’d have to ring Rhiannon and Gwen, let them know he was ok (though he wasn’t sure how to explain it) but Jack needed him now and he wasn’t going anywhere.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Annnnnnd there we are. My first proper chaptered fic complete (not sure a series of one-shots count as this one was a plotted story, woo woo). I'm so pleased people seemed to enjoy this story and I hope the ending was satisfying and believable. 
> 
> I really want to thank everyone who commented, kudo'd, bookmarked and read this story. Seeing your reviews with theories or even excitement for future chapters really made my day each time and I really hope I've done the story justice. I also want to thank everyone who stuck with the story in the last week when the posting schedule got a little haywire. Next time I write a story, I'll make sure the whole thing is finished (not just half of it) before I start posting... You never know when things are going to happen beyond your control.
> 
> I will be writing again, I have a sequel to 'Our love story was never epic' planned, and a few other random one-shots and character pieces I want to get out of my system, so hopefully be seeing you all again in the near future. If anyone has any prompts or stories they'd like me to try out, please leave your ideas in the comments, I'd love to write some things that you've got on your Janto or Torchwood wishlist.
> 
> Much love.

**Author's Note:**

> Oh no... Where is Ianto and what could 27 possibly mean?!


End file.
